


Courier

by SilvorMoon



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-01
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-03 22:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 64,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/703574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilvorMoon/pseuds/SilvorMoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a storm-ravaged, post-apocalyptic world, the greatest heroes are the couriers: brave men and women who dare to cross the wilderness to keep humanity's last outposts in touch. The greatest of these couriers is Jack Atlas - until he is hired to deliver a letter that will change his understanding of the world, and possibly the world itself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Special Delivery

****

Special Delivery

****

By: SilvorMoon

Jack smiled as one of the smudges on the horizon resolved itself into a recognizable dome shape. It wasn't much to see - just a lump in the distance that was rounder and smoother than the others, something that could only be distinguished from the rest of the rocky hills around it because it was too perfectly shaped to be natural. It was the same color as everything else around it: dun and brown and brick-red, the colors of sand and rock dust. Still, Jack was glad to see it. Seeing it meant that he was close to a hot bath, a good meal, a soft bed, and water that didn't taste like warm metal. It was as close to home as he would ever get. 

He put on some speed, and his cycle leapt forward as if it, too, was looking forward to reaching the safety of a colony. It probably would have been, if it had a mind to do it with. Jack had been driving for several days with little rest. He hadn't slept in nearly twenty-four hours, and his gas tank was nearly empty. Once he reached the colony, he could refuel his machine as well as himself, and get the whole thing tuned up for the next run. The thought of his cycle having an opinion made him shake his head; he really needed to get off the road and get some sleep. 

Within fifteen minutes, he had covered the last stretch of dusty ground and had reached one of the colony's air locks, a ten-by-ten foot metal door. There was a keypad with a slot in it tucked into a niche next to the door, protected from the blasting sands by a metal cover, and he opened it and fed his credential card to it. A moment later, it spat the card out again and flashed a green light at him, and the doors whooshed open. 

The first airlock chamber was nothing much to look at, but then, it didn't need to be. It was merely an empty metal room, bare save for a few one-way tinted windows through which the security staff could confirm that Jack had not brought any vagabonds or monsters with him when he came in, and that he was who his ID said he was and not a highwayman who had stolen his card. The confirmation took only seconds, and then the next set of doors opened so that Jack could wheel his way into the reception hall. A guard stood near the door, smiling. 

"Good to see you again, Jack," he said. 

"It will be even better to be here once I've dropped this lot off," said Jack. He parked his cycle and began unloading the saddlebags. The guards watched, interested, but no one dared to offer him a hand. His job was a sacred trust, and no one would touch the things he carried until he'd deposited them in the proper mail boxes to be delivered. 

Many years ago, things had been different. The world had been lush and green, and people had lived without fear outside the protective domes of the colonies. Then the first spiritstorm had hit, and everything changed. The storms had brought the monsters, and with the monsters and the storms came the droughts. Most of humanity had died in those first chaotic days, but the survivors had built shelters, and the shelters had attracted refugees and had expanded to make room for them, and out of those shelters the colonies had emerged. Now the last vestiges of humanity lived underneath protective domes, where the sun was only a projection on the ceiling and plants grew only in carefully cultivated plots or separate agricultural domes. Outside the colonies, there was only dust and rock, and only the monsters could survive. 

But humanity was adaptable. Life went on, and the colonies gradually developed trade agreements and alliances with other colonies. Even if they hadn't, humans were naturally gregarious creatures, and liked to hear from people in distant parts from time to time. The problem was that most routes of communication had broken down. A limited degree of radio broadcasting was still possible, but if you wanted private communication, there was nothing for it but to write a letter and get someone to deliver it. 

Enter the couriers: brave, hardy, and possibly unbalanced souls who dared to race across the ravaged land on high-speed delivery cycles, carrying gifts, letters, and verbal messages to whomever they were hired to deliver things to. A good, reliable courier who could make deliveries on time and be trusted not to read your sensitive documents was worth his weight in gold, and Jack was considered the all-around best. When you gave him a letter, you knew it would be delivered, and it would get there sooner than it would with anyone else. Jack was justifiably proud of his skill. In this world, the heroes were the soundhouse keepers, the tanker drivers, the Death's Angels, and the couriers. 

Once he had emptied his shipping compartments of everything they carried, he handed his cycle over to the waiting attendants. They would wheel it away to a garage somewhere; it would be returned to him tomorrow, fully fueled, oiled, tuned, and polished. With that taken care of, he had no more worries but to enjoy himself as much as he could before he left the city. 

A final door slid open in front of him, and he stepped out onto a narrow street. It had to be narrow; space was always at a premium in the colonies, and buildings were pushed as close together as possible to make room for everything that needed to fit in the dome. There were no cycles inside the city; everyone got around on foot or on the kind of wheeled devices that relied only on the passenger's muscles to make them move. There was no room for grass here, but every window had a small plant box hanging beneath it, growing flowers and herbs that helped to both allay the sense of being walled in and to freshen the air. Still, Jack couldn't help but feel cramped. One of the reasons he had become a courier was that even if he had to dodge monsters and spiritstorms, at least he could go out into the open once in a while. 

He followed a familiar path, walking swiftly through crowds of people who parted ahead of him and gave him wondering looks as he passed by. Why not? The arrival of a courier was always good news, and his exploits had made him moderately famous. When he arrived at the colony's wayhouse, the receptionist greeted him with a glad smile. 

"Mr. Atlas, it's good to see you again," she said. "Your usual room?" 

"Of course," he said. "And have a meal sent up." 

"Right away, sir," she said. "Is there anything else we can get for you?" 

"A change of clothes," he said automatically. "And make sure the bath has extra soap. I'm carrying half the desert on me." 

She smiled, amused. "I'll see to it." 

He started for his room. The receptionist didn't bother to ask him to pay her, but then, no one ever did. It was one of the perks of being a courier - he didn't get paid directly for his services, but anything he wanted was his for the asking. He could never ask for anything he couldn't take with him, anyway. He was required by law to stay in the colony of his most recent delivery for a minimum of thirty-six hours, and could remain for free at the wayhouse for up to a week before they would throw him out. He never stayed that long. An exhausted courier was an accident waiting to happen, but a lazy one was of no use to anybody. 

By the time he reached his room, the staff had already been and gone, leaving behind a change of clothes in his size, a set of sleepwear, and a fresh bar of soap. The room was as luxurious as anyone could have wanted, but he paid little attention to anything but stripping out of his filthy clothes and getting into the shower to scour himself under the hottest water he could stand. He had used up half the bar of soap by the time he was finally convinced that he was clean. He toweled himself off briskly and changed into the soft pajamas the house had loaned him. The staff had been by again, and had left a bowl of soup and a chunk of warm bread with honey, along with a steaming pot of tea. That was fine by him; he was too tired for an elaborate meal. He ate everything that was in front of him, set the dishes aside, and dropped onto his bed without bothering even to pull the blankets over himself. 

He was asleep almost as soon as he hit the pillow. 

* * *

Morning came, but Jack slept through it. It was just past midday when he cracked his eyes open and prepared to face the world again. Someone had pulled his curtains closed for him - or maybe they had been that way when he'd gotten there and he hadn't noticed or cared, but he was thankful for it now. This was his resting time, and he was damned well going to make the most of it. 

There was a cord dangling from the ceiling next to his bed, within comfortable arm's reach, so he pulled it. It summoned a young woman, who had apparently possessed the foresight to bring a tray with her. 

"We thought you might want breakfast," she said. 

"That is exactly what I want," he told her. 

"Just let us know if there's anything else we can get for you," she said, as she placed the tray in front of him. It had legs that folded down, so he could eat from the comfort of his bed. Perfect. 

Jack ignored the woman in favor of the food. They had sent him up a stack of griddle cakes drenched with honey and crushed berries, plus some poached eggs and sausages and a pile of fried potatoes. It was a small fortune in food, but a welcome one, and after a week or so in the field with only road rations to eat, he felt entitled to it. The road rations were scientifically designed to be lightweight and easy to carry but nutritionally dense, and would resist spoiling for practically ever as long as they stayed inside their packaging. What they weren't was particularly satisfying to eat. 

While he ate, he considered his options. Today was his break from work, but that didn't mean he could afford to waste it. He would have to go into the city and replenish his supplies. He needed at least one fresh set of clothes, to replace the articles he'd lost when he'd gotten too close to a spiritstorm, and he needed food and water. He would look around the market and see if the survivalist people had come up with any clever new gizmos that would keep him alive a little more reliably in the outside world. Once he was restocked, he could think about enjoying himself, as much as he could while locked inside a city. Probably he would end up at the tavern, playing cards with the locals. He was as good at cards as he was at driving, and the nice thing about being a courier was that he didn't hang around long to enough to get a reputation that would make people avoid him. 

He was still mulling over those pleasant thoughts when someone stepped through his door. He glared. Staff members were not supposed to come into his room without knocking. 

But it wasn't a house staff member. It appeared to be a messenger, a young man in a gray uniform. He looked at Jack in the manner of someone who really didn't want to be there. 

"Well?" said Jack. "Spit it out or go away." 

"The mayor would like to see you, sir," he said. 

"Can it wait till I'm done with breakfast?" 

"He said to have you there as soon as possible," the messenger replied. 

"Well, it's not possible for me to get there while I'm eating," said Jack. "He can wait until I'm good and ready." 

"But sir..." 

"I can find my own way there," said Jack, in a tone he hoped would put an end to the discussion. It did; the messenger hurried away. 

Feeling contrary, Jack took his time finishing his breakfast, and then took his time changing into his day clothes. Who did anyone, even the mayor, think he was, dragging Jack around on his day off? If he wanted a delivery, he could either wait until Jack was off his mandatory rest period or he could find someone else to do it. So what did he think he needed to drag him out of bed for? Jack was hardly in a good mood by the time he left his room and started up the street towards City Hall. 

The City Hall was the largest building in the city, occupying the exact center of the colony so that it could stand as tall as possible. In fact, if you counted the broadcast tower, it went straight up to the roof and beyond. Otherwise, it wasn't substantially different from the buildings around it: dusty brown and blocky, with plant boxes in the windows. Jack wasn't fooled. Inside that building, everything that was important to the colony and its well-being was managed, from agriculture to news broadcasts. The leaders of the colonies were called "mayors" in an understated way; within the walls of their domains, they held nearly absolute power. Jack marched up the front steps and let himself in. 

Someone must have been waiting for him, because as soon as he entered, a well-dressed young man pounced on him. 

"Mr. Atlas, the mayor has been waiting for you," he said. 

"I don't understand why he thinks I should be here in the first place," Jack grumbled. 

"I'm sure Mayor Goodwin will explain everything when you see him," said the man, leading Jack towards an elevator. 

_Explain?_ Jack wondered. _Does that mean no one else knows? This is fishy..._

Eventually they reached the mayor's office. It was a fine room, elegant without being overblown, functional but attractive. It matched the man who worked in it. Mayor Goodwin was a striking man, tall and graceful, with hair that had gone prematurely silver. Instead of trying to hide it, he grew it out, letting it fall gently down his back like a royal mantle. Just now, he was sitting behind his desk with his hands folded in front of him. Jack hoped his expression didn't show his distaste. He did not like this immaculately clean man who looked as though he had never stepped outside the safety of this climate-controlled dome, and possibly had never gone out of his office. 

"What do you want?" Jack demanded. 

"I think that should be obvious," said Goodwin calmly. "I need to hire a courier." 

"If you want to hire me, you're going to have to wait," Jack replied. "I'm on break." 

"There is no one else in this city to hire," said Goodwin, "and the message needs to go out as soon as possible." 

"I still have two days left," said Jack. "I can't leave before then. You know the law as well as anyone." 

"I am willing to grant you a dispensation," said Goodwin. "I will, of course, compensate you for the inconvenience." 

Jack started to say that he wasn't going to break the law just for Goodwin's convenience, and then reconsidered. 'Compensation' sounded like money, and that was generally a good thing to have. His position entitled him to all the things he needed, but he planned to live to see retirement, and then he was going to want some savings. 

"Where do you want this to go?" he asked. 

"Only as far as the Momentum colony," said Goodwin. "I'm sure it won't take you long." 

Jack calculated. Momentum was the colony closest to this one. At top speed, he had made it there in as little as three days. In his current unrested state, he didn't want to push himself quite that hard, but he could still easily get there in less than a week. Then he could rest up there and take the return trip at his leisure. 

"Hm," he said. "Exactly how much compensation are we talking, here?" 

Goodwin raised an eyebrow. "What would you consider reasonable? Perhaps we can negotiate." 

Jack weighed his options before naming a respectable sum, a little more than he felt a mission like this was worth, even taking into account the fact that Goodwin was asking him to break the law and risk losing his courier's license. If Goodwin didn't like it, then he could wait until Jack was ready to leave the colony on his own terms. If Goodwin did accept it, then it would make a tidy nest egg someday. 

"Done," said Goodwin without hesitation. "But only on the condition that you bring me proof of delivery. You'll get your pay as soon as you return to me." 

"Deal," said Jack. 

They shook on it. Then Goodwin reached into a drawer in his desk and took out a message capsule, the kind that only the most important documents were delivered in. They were made in such a way that the only way to read the message inside was to break them apart, making it instantly obvious if someone had tampered with them. Jack took the message and tucked it into a pocket. 

"Deliver that directly to the mayor in Momentum," said Goodwin. "Then return with his reply." 

"You don't have to tell me how to do my job," said Jack. "Anyway, unless you have anything else to say, I'm leaving." 

Goodwin waved a hand, which Jack took as a dismissal, so he turned on his heel and marched off. 

He didn't leave straightaway, though. If he was going to break the rules by skipping his rest period, he was at least going to make sure he was safe in every other way possible. It was late afternoon when he checked out of the colony, but he was traveling with fresh supplies of everything, and with his ride tuned to like-new condition. 

Stepping outside the airlock felt like a blow; the wasteland had been baking under the sun most of the day, and the heat was breathtaking. He ignored it and drove relentlessly out into the empty world. 

He might not have liked the job, but he was determined to get it done as quickly as possible. He drove until nightfall at the fastest speed he could manage. The areas around a colony were usually fairly smooth, since they had to be crossed more regularly by travelers. The further out he went, the worse the paths would be, as anything that might have ever resembled a road broke down, crumbled by monsters or spiritstorms or simply by winds and the shifting of the earth. After driving for some hours, Jack looked out at the dark world and wondered if he felt like making camp. He had pulled all-nighters before, but usually he'd had more rest time than this. 

"I'm not killing myself for Mayor Goodwin," he muttered, and started scanning the horizon for a place to pull over. 

Eventually he spied a rock formation in the distance and altered his course a little to veer towards it. It wasn't a very big formation, but it was enough that he could set up his campsite in a cleft near its base and feel reasonably secure. He pitched his tent - actually a lightproof folding screen - and set up everything he needed inside. There was a little heater that gave out warmth and light, his bedroll, a bit of food, and his radio. He turned it on. 

At first, there was only static. That was understandable. Once upon a time, there had been actual radio stations that each had their own unique channels that they didn't have to share with anyone else. Spiritstorms had made such things impossible, as the interference they caused made certain radio bands sporadically unavailable. Now there were, instead, the soundhouses. Just as sailors on the ocean had been guided by lighthouses, the couriers and tankers relied on the soundhouses. They were spaced out across the wilderness, far removed from any of the colonies, broadcasting on whatever wavelength worked _this_ week. They delivered the news, reported on bad weather and spiritstorms, and most importantly, they provided a sense of companionship to people who spent most of their lives alone in an empty wilderness. 

Jack twiddled the knob until he found a clear signal that was playing something he approved of, and he settled in to eat his dinner. He didn't have much enthusiasm for it. He had just started this trip, and already he was tired of road rations. 

Eventually the music cut off, and an energetic voice announced, "Hi, everybody! This is Carly the Keeper, coming to you live! Here's the weather report. I've got reports here of a spiritstorm brewing between the cities of Ragnorok and Chevalier. If you're traveling that way, please look for shelter as soon as possible. In other weather, rain storms are moving in from north of Arcadia. Drive safe out there, okay, folks? 

"And now, for your edification, I bring you tonight's debate. Our subject for today: are spirit monsters sentient? Representing the pro-sentience position is Professor Ren‚ LeBlanc..." 

The esteemed professor wasn't actually there, of course. These "debates" were manufactured out of clips from public lectures or read from the pages of books and magazines. Still, it was one of the things that set Carly apart from her peers. She was, in fact, his favorite Keeper. Part of the reason was that something in the most primitive parts of his brain that found a woman's voice soothing when he was all alone in the empty wasteland, and she was the only female Keeper he knew of who did a normal broadcast. The scattering of others that he'd heard seemed to specialize primarily in providing a source of suggestive talk to lonely men. Jack had tried listening to them for a while, but it only left him frustrated and feeling more isolated than ever. 

So now he listened to Carly. She drew in listeners by offering a little of everything. She covered all the staples - news, weather, music - but also did her own unique things, like broadcasting these debates. Often she would give out her own opinions on whatever the subject at hand was, or simply ask her listeners questions for them to mull over for themselves. She also broadcasted a fictional series about the adventures of a brave and resourceful courier known as Flame. Jack suspected she wrote them herself, because no one else ever had the next installment before she did. Jack always tuned in when he could; the stories were always suspenseful and thought provoking. Last time, Flame had been left in the hands of a deranged Death's Angel, who had been driven over the edge after retrieving the mangled body of his dead best friend. Flame's purpose in engaging the Death's Angel in debate was mainly to talk him out of killing both of them, but it raised some real concerns about the ethics of the job. That was the kind of thing that mattered, when you knew you stood a good chance of ending up on a Death's Angel's cart someday yourself. 

Eventually, he finished his dinner and lay down on his sleeping mat, but he didn't close his eyes. Perhaps it was because he'd slept so late that morning, but even though he was tired from a long day of driving, he didn't feel sleepy. Inevitably, his thoughts wandered to the contents of the sealed capsule. What could be so time-sensitive, he wondered, that it had to be delivered right away, even if it meant bending the law? The last he'd heard, Domino was a peaceful colony. Wars were a thing of the past when you literally couldn't get more than a few people at a time from one outpost to another, and he thought he would have noticed if there had been a drought or famine going on. If there had been an epidemic, they wouldn't have even let him out of the colony. Anyway, all of that was a public matter he could have sent it over the radio and had the news out much faster. This had to be something private a death in the family, perhaps? Would even a mayor bend the law for a personal matter? 

Jack resettled himself on his mat, trying to shake off these confusing thoughts. He was getting nowhere with this, and it was keeping him awake. Whatever was in the capsule, it was none of his business. He would deliver it to Momentum, hand it over, and forget about it, just as he had with every other message he'd ever delivered. There was no reason why he should think of this one any differently. Maybe Goodwin _was_ up to no good that didn't mean Jack needed to get involved. He could collect his payment, leave, and refuse to go back to Domino ever again, if he wanted to. As a matter of fact, he decided, that was exactly what he'd do. Whatever these people were up to, they could just leave him out of it. 

He forced all his fruitless thoughts out of his mind, letting himself concentrate instead on the soothing sound of the radio. He drifted off with the sound of the Keeper's voice in his ear. 

**To Be Continued**


	2. Survivors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack continues his journey to deliver Mayor Goodwin's letter, but a chance encounter causes him to realize just how dangerous his mission is going to be.

****

Survivors

****

By: SilvorMoon

The next morning was perfectly routine, almost too smooth. There had been no sudden storms or curious monsters to disrupt his sleep. His radio station hadn't been knocked to a new channel yet. The weather report predicted clear skies, and the most recent bandit activity report was far away from his chosen route. He began to think he might actually make good time. Momentum was a bigger colony than Domino, too - it would be a much more comfortable and interesting place for his requisite rest period to take place. Perhaps getting this job was a stroke of luck rather than a problem. 

He had been driving for about three hours when he first noticed signs of trouble. Up until that point, the road had been smooth and he had been letting his mind wander. It wasn't until the navigation screen on his cycle began pinging urgently at him that he realized what he should have noticed sooner. There was a blip on his radar, and it was making a beeline towards him. Judging from the size of it, it had to be either a lone driver or a moderately small monster. He hoped for a monster. Those were less likely to have an agenda, and easier to convince to go away. 

Luck wasn't with him. Within a few moments, he was able to see the shape of a man on a cycle pulling slowly but steadily up behind him. Jack swore. The last thing he needed was to have to deal with bandits. 

Fortunately, his cycle was one of the best on the road, and he was confident he could give some rock-dwelling thief a run for his money. Jack put on some speed and rocketed forward, hoping to put the bandit out of sight and then change course to try to lose him. Jack didn't doubt himself if it came to a fight, but his first priority was to try to get the mail to safety. 

_I don't need this. I'm not even carrying anything valuable!_

The bandit sped up too - not gaining on him, but pacing him, keeping him in sight. Jack weighed his options. He knew his machine was capable of going faster, but the ground here was rough and he didn't want to court an accident. He could maintain his present speed for a while, but not indefinitely, and he could never be sure from day to day whether or not there would be a ravine or rockfall in his path that hadn't been there the last time he'd gone by. He was willing to bet the bandit knew the area better than he did, and might even have friends waiting in ambush. 

Then a stroke of luck presented itself. The ground flattened out; Jack could see that he had made it over the lip of a shallow valley, and the terrain he could see now was smooth and sloping slightly downwards, ideal conditions for picking up speed. He gunned the accelerator, intending to leave his unwanted companion in the dust. 

As he rocketed forward, he felt a slight jolt beneath him. He had just enough time to notice that he had driven over a hump in the ground that looked too straight and even to be natural. Then a row of spikes flipped up out of the earth in front of him, pointing straight at his cycle's tires. He slammed on the breaks and tried to turn out of the way, but it was too late. He hit the barrier sideways and was dumped from his saddle, while his cycle crashed and skidded to a halt on the sandy ground. A moment later, the bandit pulled up and made a casual stop. 

"I knew it was worth the effort of digging that," he said to himself, as he slipped off his helmet. "Okay, buddy, I got you fair and square. Hand over the goods." 

Jack spat out a mouthful of dust. "That was a dirty trick. And I don't have any goods." 

"Oh, please," said the bandit. He sauntered closer to have a look at Jack's cycle. "I saw you pass by the other day and couldn’t catch you, so I know your rest period isn’t up yet. You’ve got to be carrying _something_ important.” 

"All I've got is a letter," said Jack. "They offered to pay me enough extra to leave early that I thought it was worth the risk, but it's not worth anything to you." 

"Must be some letter, then," said the bandit. Jack could get a good look at him now - a small but tough-looking young man with flaming red hair and steel-gray eyes. The bandit gave a cry of victory and fished out the sealed container. 

"If you break that..." Jack warned, climbing carefully to his feet. His knee ached; he must have landed badly when he fell. He was not exactly sure what he was going to threaten when he was currently unarmed and he could see the knife worn conspicuously at the bandit's side. 

"Cool it," said the bandit. 

Jack responded by tackling him. The two of them fell to the dusty earth, and Jack struggled to wrench the container out of the bandit's hand. The bandit snarled and struck the side of Jack's head with his free hand, but Jack was still wearing his helmet, and the blow did little to faze him. He managed to twist the thief's wrist and force him to drop the capsule, but the bandit was able to drive his knee into Jack's chest, momentarily knocking the wind out of him. Jack faltered, and the bandit was able to shove him away. While Jack lay on his back, watching the stars whirling in front of his eyes and trying to remember how to breathe, the thief got up and stomped on the letter capsule. It shattered. 

_There goes my perfect record,_ Jack thought. Reflexively, he made an effort to sit up, even though the damage was already done. 

Casually, the thief picked up the letter and unrolled it. His expression went from casually curious to interested to stunned. 

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed. He threw the letter down and backed away from it as though it carried the plague. 

"What's your problem?" Jack demanded. 

The bandit pointed at the letter. "Read that!" 

"I will not," said Jack. Bad enough he'd let it get broken. To actually, willfully read it would constitute a violation of his courier's code of honor. 

"Then what did you ask me what it said for?" the thief snapped. Whatever he'd seen, he was still shaking from it. 

"I didn't ask what it said, I asked what your problem is," Jack retorted. "What, am I delivering your death sentence or something?" 

"Yeah, and yours too," the thief muttered. "Look, pal, I can't let you deliver that thing. I may be a bandit but I've got ethics. You might as well read it and find out why." 

Jack weighed his options. He was in the middle of a hostile desert, his cycle had been damaged by the bandit's trap, and he was dealing with an angry and possibly irrational armed criminal. His first duty as he understood it was to get the mail to whoever it was destined for, but it looked like he was going to have to get rid of this thief first. He supposed he could at least _pretend_ to read the missive without violating his oath... 

Jack picked up the paper and glanced at it. He had only intended to skim the words without reading them, but without willing it, he picked up a few phrases, and what he saw was enough to make him start reading in spite of himself. He couldn't believe what he was reading. He started again at the top. 

_Dear Brother, I hope this message finds you well. My research continues steadily. I wish you had warned me you were going to send a spiritstorm so close to my colony - all of my instruments are going to need to be recalibrated now. You had better have a good explanation for that. In the meantime, once my machinery is working again, I am going to run a series of experimental storms along the edge of the Chevalier territory. I will let you know as soon as I have results. Speaking of results, I have received a number of missives from Professor LeBlanc. He is asking far too many questions for my peace of mind - it is only a matter of time before he stops being reassured and starts bringing his findings to the public. I think it would be best for him to have an accident sometime in the near future. I hope I can count on you to arrange it. This particular courier is currently in violation of delivery code 46-D. Feel free to detain him if he seems too curious about the urgency of this delivery._

Jack read the letter a second time, trying to process what he was seeing. That last item was easy to make sense of: the Goodwin brothers didn't want anyone they even suspected of suspecting what they were up to walking away freely. If he delivered this letter, he would be detained - jailed, in plainer terms - for failing to observe his mandatory three-day rest period, and he would probably never be seen again. His body would be dumped in the desert somewhere for the Death's Angels to find, and the mayors would issue a statement saying that he had tragically died in the field due to accidents resulting from lack of sleep. It happened all the time, with couriers rushing to finish a delivery. Nobody would ever suspect there was something suspicious when the job was already known to be one of the most dangerous on earth. 

Except now that wasn't going to happen. The bandit had unwittingly done him a favor, but what was going to happen next? He couldn't deliver the message without putting his life in danger - not to mention the life of Professor LeBlanc, whoever he was. If he didn't deliver the letter, the Death's Angels would assume he was dead and come looking for him. He couldn't drive away on his damaged cycle, and if he stayed and waited to be collected, he'd probably be arrested and thrown in jail anyway. 

Jack glared at the bandit. 

"This is a fine mess you've gotten me into," he muttered. 

"Me? What about the mess _you've_ gotten _me_ into?" the bandit retorted. "What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can't let you go. If you tell anyone I read that thing, I'm a dead man. They'll never stop looking for me." He was pacing agitatedly, stirring up dust with each footfall. 

"I'm not telling anyone," said Jack. "They'll kill me before they kill you." 

"Yeah, but you can't tell me you wouldn't try to put them off your case by pointing them at me!" 

"I won't, because I'm not crazy enough to go back!" Jack insisted. He stuffed the letter under his jacket. "We're both in trouble now. I can't leave without help, and you can't afford to leave me here for the Death's Angels." 

The bandit stopped walking. He stared very hard at Jack, apparently sizing him up. Then he deflated. 

"Damn, forgot about that. They’ll be here any minute, won’t they?" he said. "When you're right, you're right. We both need to disappear, on the double. Looks like we're traveling together for a while." 

"Except I can't go anywhere right now," Jack pointed out, "because you wrecked my cycle." 

"Oh, yeah." The bandit rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I guess I can help you with that." 

"Can you fix it?" Jack asked. 

"Nah," said the thief, "but I know a couple of maniacs." 

Jack gave him a look. "I'm sure you do." 

"Yeah, but these are _mechanical_ maniacs," the thief replied. "I mean, they're nuts about machines and computers and things. They can get that thing running again and shut off the beacon so we won't have any Death's Angels on our tails. We've just got to get it from here to there." 

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Jack demanded. He still wasn't used to thinking in terms of "we". "I can't drive it, and you can't haul it." 

The thief grinned. "Want to bet? I've got more things stashed around here than traps. Just hang on a few minutes. I'll be back in a flash." 

"You're just going to leave me here?" asked Jack. 

"Not for long," the thief promised. "I'll be gone twenty minutes, tops. I've just got to go get my trailer. Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon you." He gave a weak grin. "There is honor among thieves, believe it or not. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, my name's Crow Hogan. You can report me to the authorities if I bail out on you." 

It didn't make Jack feel much better - no point in reporting someone who probably didn't have anything as mundane as residence papers - but he accepted it as the olive branch it was. 

"Jack Atlas," he said. "If it matters to you." 

Crow whistled. "Man, did I pick the wrong guy to tail. I should have stayed home. Oh well, that's the way it goes." 

He bounded aboard his cycle and raced off into the wilderness, aiming in the general direction of some rock hills Jack could see off on the horizon. Jack settled in to wait. Even if Crow decided not to return for him, one of the Death's Angels would eventually arrive. His cycle had started emitting a distress signal the moment it had sustained terminal damage. The Angel would keep him alive - for a little while, anyway. Maybe if he persuaded one of them to deliver him to one of the colonies not controlled by the Goodwin brothers, he would stand a chance... 

But Crow did come back. Within fifteen minutes, Jack could see him trundling over the desert with a trailer hooked to the back of his cycle. With his help, Jack was able to shove his ride onto trailer and climb in after it. Once he was in as securely as he could be, Crow started driving again. Jack consulted his mental map and determined that they weren't heading toward any colony he knew of. Was there a bandit stronghold hidden out there somewhere? 

"Where are we going?" he asked. 

"You ever hear of Satellite?" Crow replied. 

"Of course I've heard of it," said Jack. "I was born there." 

"Ha, small world! So was I," said Crow, flashing a grin over his shoulder. "Well, now you're going to get to visit your hometown." 

Jack stared at him. "But we can't. That's a ghost town." 

Years ago, when Jack had been only a small child, Satellite had been a thriving colony. He had, in fact, been too young to remember much of what had happened, but that didn't make him unusual, because no one seemed to understand much of what had happened. All anyone could agree on was that somehow, one of the supports that held the city's main protective dome in place had been weakened, and a spiritstorm had caused the dome to crack and collapse down onto the city. Hundreds of people had died that night, and hundreds more were injured. The survivors had been carried off to whatever other colonies would take them in, and the once-thriving city had been left to rot. There had always been rumors, though, of survivors who had never been found, and who still clung to their home, eking out a living however they could... 

"There are still a few people there," said Crow. "Not many. A few like me who survived the collapse and never left. A few who need to hide there for one reason or another. And these guys. I don't know why they're there, but they seem happy. We do business once in a while." 

Jack nodded and said nothing. He was not sure how he felt about going back to his old home after all these years. He wondered if he would remember any of it. Sometimes he thought that his wandering existence was because his roots had been cut away so abruptly, and he had never been able to settle comfortably anywhere else. 

With nothing better to do, he turned his radio back on. If nothing else, it might give him some advance warning if someone realized that he had gone off course. For now, though, the airwaves were fairly quiet. He skimmed through every channel he could pick up and heard nothing that sounded relevant. At last, he turned the channel back to a station that was playing music and let his mind drift. He wondered what he was going to do after he got his cycle repaired. Stay in Satellite and take up banditry? Go to one of the other colonies and demand that someone launch an investigation? 

Crow kept a steady course, not even stopping to eat lunch. At last, somewhere around mid-afternoon, a lumpy shape could be discerned in the distance. Jack sat up straight to get a better look at it. It looked like a broken eggshell, abandoned and half-buried in the sand. He could still see the smooth curve of an undamaged section of the dome, but the rest of it was a confused scattering of rubble. Jack could hardly believe that anyone lived there. Where did they go when monsters attacked or a storm blew up? 

He got his answer a short while later, when Crow drove up to a pair of double doors set into the ground. Crow pressed a button on his cycle's dashboard, and the doors slid smoothly open, revealing a well-lit sloping driveway. Once he had driven through them, the doors swished closed again. Then they were beneath the earth, driving through a long tunnel. 

Jack had never seen anything quite like it before. It seemed to have been pieced together out of whatever was lying around - sheets of metal of various sizes, welded together in a patchwork and supplemented here and there by slabs of stone or even plastic. Here and there was an electric light or a ventilation grating, all of them equally mismatched but still functioning effectively. Crow was driving slowly enough that Jack could hear a faint hum, as of a fan or possibly a generator, and the air was cooler and fresher than he would have expected from a tunnel under the desert. 

After they had gone some distance, they came to a place where the tunnel widened into an open space that seemed to be some sort of public square. He could see other cycles parked there, along with other odd machines that looked as pieced-together as the tunnel did, and more tunnels leading off in other directions. Crow found a vacant place to park and gestured for Jack to follow him down one of them. Their footsteps clanged and echoed on the metallic floor. Now that they were no longer moving, Jack could feel the faint rush of air circulating, and a vibration under his feet. He could hear other people moving around, the sound of their voices distorted and muffled by the echoing corridors. 

The hallway Jack walked down was full of doors, each of them a different shape or color, marked with unique designs. Crow paused in front of a black door with a red squiggle on it and banged on it with his fist. It made a satisfying clang. 

"Hey, fellas!" he shouted. "Anybody home? I brought you a present." 

"Coming," called a muffled voice. 

A moment later, the door was opened by a young man. He looked to be about Jack's age, though several inches shorter, with untidy dark hair accented by blond streaks. He had a coating of what appeared to be engine grease on his hands, from which Jack deduced that this was one of the "maniacs" he had come to see. He didn't look like a maniac to Jack. His face was solemn, his eyes dark and serious. 

"Crow. You've brought a visitor," he said. 

"Nice to see you too, Yusei," said Crow. "This is Jack. His cycle had a meltdown. I figured you could fix it if anyone could." 

Yusei raised an eyebrow. "Might you have had something to do with his meltdown?" 

"Coulda been," said Crow, unashamed. "Hey, you should be happy I brought you a new gizmo to play with." 

"I do have my own work to do, you know," said Yusei, but there was a light of curiosity in his eyes. "But as long as you're here, you might as well bring it in." 

Crow grinned. "Thanks! I knew I could count on you." 

With Jack's help, he wheeled the broken cycle down the passage to Yusei's workshop. The room beyond the black and red door proved to be filled mainly with junk, though it seemed to be arranged in some orderly fashion, with devices piled together with others of a similar nature. Jack noted boxes of light bulbs, piles of gears, bundles of wire, heaps of pipes, and other oddities he couldn't put names to. Yusei shoved some crates out of the way to make room for Jack's cycle. Then he wandered over to a hole in the floor, from which a spiral staircase descended, and he leaned over the rail. 

"Bruno, come on up," he called. "We have company." 

A young man clambered into view. He was close to Jack's height and had eyes of nearly the same gray as Crow's, but where Crow's gaze was sharp and evaluating, this man's whole expression was gentle and faintly dreamy, as though he were working on something fascinating in the back of his mind and wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around him. 

"Hello," he said. "I'm Bruno. Nice to meet you." 

He offered a hand, and Jack shook it briefly. The man's expression might have been soft, but his grip was firm and calloused. He obviously spent as much time working as daydreaming. 

"Jack Atlas," Jack replied. 

Bruno's face took on a shade of interest. "The famous courier? What are you doing way out here?" 

"His cycle took a spill," said Yusei. "Or maybe I should say Crow spilled it for him." 

"Hey, I didn't know the guy was a celebrity!" Crow objected. 

Nobody paid any attention to him. Yusei and Bruno had already moved over to inspect the broken cycle, kneeling on either side of it and murmuring to each other as they assessed the damage. 

"This is going to be a bit of a challenge," said Yusei. "I haven't seen this exact model before. We might have to jury-rig some replacement parts." 

"There is nowhere in particular I have to be," Jack replied. "Do me a favor, though - turn off the emergency beacon for me." 

"No need," said Bruno. 

"This place is insulated from outgoing transmissions," Yusei explained. "We like our privacy down here." 

"I like my privacy, too," said Jack. "Turn it off." 

Bruno gave Jack an appraising look. Jack found himself revising his opinion of the young man - there was a sharp mind under that dreamy façade. 

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" he asked. 

"It's none of your business if I am," said Jack. 

"He's in trouble," said Crow at the same time. 

Bruno nodded. "I thought so." The matter apparently being settled, he went back to the more interesting business of poking at the cycle. 

Yusei was more sympathetic. 

"There's food downstairs," he said, "and some books you can look at, if you want." 

Jack wasn’t interested in food or books, but with nothing better to do, he nodded and started down the stairs. Crow followed him. The downstairs area was apparently where all the actual living went on. Jack noted a bed in one corner, and a couple of oft-repaired chairs and an old swaybacked sofa arranged around a low table. There were also bookshelves made of boards stacked on large bricks, and the rudiments of a kitchen against the far wall. Crow made a beeline for the fridge, but Jack simply let himself drop onto the sofa and stared up at the ceiling. 

"Told you they were maniacs," said Crow as he rattled dishes around. "It's hard to get them to pay attention to anything that hasn't got circuits or gears. Nice guys, though." 

"Is everyone who lives here like them?" Jack asked. 

"Nah, those two are the only ones I know. Most of the people here are either bandits or Survivors or both." He managed to pronounce the capital "S". 

"Survivors?" Jack repeated. 

"People who survived the collapse," said Crow. "The ones who didn't want to leave their home, or who were overlooked. We're still living here, trying to pull things together and make it all work." He shook his head. "There just aren't enough of us to put the domes back together, though, and we don't have the tools to put everything back the way it was before the storm hit." 

The storm. It all came back to those storms. In the wake of the realization that he had come within an inch of dying, Jack hadn't allowed himself much time to think about the storms. The letter had made it clear, though: at least some of those storms, maybe all of them, were man-made, engineered by the Goodwin brothers or people like them. He had the proof now, a letter written in Rex Goodwin's own hand. He could take it to the mayor of one of the other colonies and have their scheme shut down. 

And then what? Would the world go back to what it had been before, without any spiritstorms or monsters? He supposed that would mean an end to couriers as well, with no more spiritstorms to scramble people's reception. The people would no longer need the safety of colony domes. It would be safe to travel across the ocean, even resurrect the technology that had allowed them to fly through the air. Would it really be a good thing, to turn the world upside-down that way? 

More to the point, did he want to do that for himself? If the storms ended, people could go back to using their old ways of communicating. There wouldn't be much need for couriers, and not much glory in being one when the risk of being swallowed up by a storm no longer existed. It would be the end of his career - of life as he knew it. It wasn't as though people weren't coping with the world as it was now. Maybe he should just leave well enough alone. 

That was what he wanted to tell himself, but he knew he couldn't, and it rankled him. Half the reason he'd become a courier was that it gave him a lot of freedom to choose where he went and what he did. Being backed into a corner like this was maddening. 

"I never should have taken this job," he said aloud. "I could have been back at the wayhouse relaxing now." 

"Yeah, yeah, poor you," said Crow. "Want a sandwich? When was the last time you ate anything?" 

"I'm not hungry." 

"Eat something anyway," Crow advised. "You'll feel better." 

"I'd feel better if I wasn't in this mess!" Jack snapped. "What am I supposed to do? None of this is my responsibility. I don't care about the Goodwins or the storms or Professor LeBlanc, whoever he is. I just want to go back to my job, and I _can't_ , and it's making me crazy!" 

Crow shrugged. "No use getting worked up over the stuff you can't change. I never asked for any of this either, you know. Maybe instead of sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, you can try thinking about how we're going to get out of this mess." 

"You're so clever. You do it," said Jack. 

"Not me," said Crow. "I'm going to finish my snack and go check on the kids." 

Jack was momentarily distracted from his sulk. "Kids?" 

"There are a few here," said Crow. "A lot of them have parents who are dead or gone most of the time, so I kinda try to help look after them when I can. I wasn't planning on coming back here until I had something to show for myself, but as long as I'm here anyway..." 

"Huh," said Jack. "Fine. Don't be helpful, then." 

"You need to get over yourself," said Crow. "Otherwise this trip isn't going to be much fun." 

If there had been anything at hand Jack could have thrown at him, he would have. Since there wasn't, Crow took his half-eaten sandwich and ambled serenely back up the stairs. Jack glowered in his direction long after he'd gone, but it didn't make him feel any better. After a while, he got bored and wandered upstairs to see what Yusei and Bruno were doing. 

Jack found his cycle in pieces and the two men kneeling in the midst of them, discussing how to reassemble them again. 

"How is it coming?" Jack asked. 

"It's getting there," said Bruno. 

"Slowly but surely," Yusei agreed. "Don't worry. We won't keep you here any longer than necessary." 

"It doesn't matter," said Jack, with more bitterness than he'd meant to show. "I have nowhere to go anyway." 

Yusei gave him a keen look. "I thought couriers were always in a hurry." 

"Not this one." 

"Any reason why?" Yusei asked. 

"Well, for one thing, Crow broke the capsule for the message I'm supposed to be delivering," said Jack. 

"That's no problem," said Bruno. "We can make you a new one. They're not that difficult." 

"That isn't going to help," said Jack. 

"Why not?" Yusei asked. 

Jack wavered. The last thing he wanted to do was explain his situation and get two more complete strangers involved in his predicament. 

"Have you ever heard of a guy called Professor LeBlanc?" he asked. 

"I've heard of him," said Bruno guardedly. Yusei gave him a concerned look. 

"What have you heard?" Jack asked. "Do you know where he is?" 

"No, I never worked with him directly before..." Bruno began, and then stopped short. 

"You know something," said Jack. "Go on, spill!" 

Yusei fixed a glare on Jack. "You know something, too. You go first." 

"Why me?" Jack demanded. 

"How do we know you're not one of them?" Yusei replied. 

"I'm not one of them! Whoever they are," said Jack. "I want to know what's going on here. Am I the last person to find out? Is this something I wouldn't have missed if I wasn't on the road all the time? Give me some answers!" 

"Calm down," said Yusei. "I'll tell you what - I'll tell you as much as I know if you'll tell me what you know." 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Bruno asked. 

"We can't afford to pass up a source of information," said Yusei. "He might be able to help us." 

"Who says I want to help anyone?" Jack muttered. 

"You ought to," Bruno pointed out. "We're fixing your cycle for free." 

Jack glared at him, but Bruno just gave him a mild look as though he'd already forgotten what they were talking about. Jack didn't believe it for a minute. 

"Tell us why you're asking about Professor LeBlanc," said Yusei. "We can answer your questions better if we know what you're trying to learn." 

"I just want to know how to get out of this mess," said Jack, "and so far he's the only one I know of who probably wants out as much as I do." 

Bruno gave a half smile. "If that's what you're looking for, you're in the right place. Satellite is where everyone comes when they want out. Even me." 

_This is getting me nowhere,_ Jack thought. He looked at the two men who were sitting and watching him so seriously. Hopefully, perhaps. If they were hiding from the same thing he was, he probably _should_ tell them what was going on. 

On the other hand, even if they weren't, he wasn't sure how he could be in more of a mess. 

"It's like this," he said, and gave them a summation of everything that had happened since Goodwin had called him to his office. Yusei and Bruno listened with solemn expressions. 

"I was afraid that would be it," said Bruno, shaking his head. 

"All right, I told you everything I know," said Jack. "Now you guys owe me some answers. What's your deal?" 

Bruno turned to Yusei. "You go first. It started more with you anyway." 

"It started long before me," said Yusei. "You know, don't you, that this used to be an active colony until about twenty years ago?" 

Jack nodded. "I was born here." 

"So was I," said Yusei, with a ghost of a smile. "We're neighbors. Anyway, my father was an important scientist here. One day, he got a message offering him money to study the nature of the spiritstorms. All he had to do was collect the data his sponsor asked for - easy work that wouldn't take much time away from his real studies. He was interested, and the payment was good, so he took the job. But the more he worked, the more he began to wonder what these experiments were all about. He started to look more deeply into the nature of the storms, and that's when he started to suspect that they weren't a natural occurrence. He started asking questions, and said he wouldn't do any more work on the project until he got some explanations." Yusei's expression turned grim. "A few weeks later, the colony's protective dome cracked, and our whole neighborhood was crushed underneath it. Both my parents died." 

"But not you, obviously," said Jack. 

"No, I was with a sitter on the other side of town when it happened," said Yusei. "She was a good friend of my parents', and she knew something about what was happening. She explained all this to me when I was old enough to understand. That's why I came back here. I've been exploring what's left of the city, trying to find out if any of my father's research survived the collapse. I wanted to know who did this and why, and how they can be stopped." 

"I see," said Jack. He turned to Bruno. "And I suppose you're going to tell the same sort of sob story?" 

Bruno shook his head. "No. I was one of them." 

"You were what?" Jack repeated. 

"They recruited me," said Bruno. "To work on their machines. I've always been good at mechanical things, and I thought it would be fun. They said I'd be doing important work, and I believed them. Once I understood what I was doing, though..." 

"What _were_ you doing?" asked Jack. "For that matter, who is 'they'?" 

"They call themselves the Yliasters," said Bruno. "It's sort of an organization. They've been around a long time. They're the ones who caused the storms to start coming in the first place." 

"And they just keep doing it? Are they crazy?" asked Jack. "What do they get out of making the world unlivable on purpose?" 

"The world isn't unlivable," said Yusei. "It's just that the livable parts are smaller now. Easier for a few people to control." 

Jack digested this. 

"So you're saying that these Yliasters want the storms to continue because they want the population to stay small enough that they can maintain complete control?" he asked. 

"I'm not sure that's how they started out," said Bruno. "They may have even had good intentions, once. But since things fell out that way, it looks like some of them have decided they like it." 

"So what _are_ they trying to do?" Jack asked. "For that matter, what did you _think_ they were trying to do?" 

"Producing energy," said Bruno. "Think about it. There are power plants in all the colonies, but where does it come from? Nobody mines coal or drills for oil. You can't put up solar panels or wind turbines without the storms destroying them. So where does all that energy come from? It must come from somewhere." 

"So where does it come from?" Jack asked. 

Bruno shrugged. "I have no idea. I only know that the storms are somehow linked to the methods they're using to get power." 

"So if the storms stop, the lights go out," said Jack thoughtfully. 

"True," said Yusei, "but on the other hand, it would be safe to go out again and build solar panels and wind turbines and everything else. It would just take some time to get it all organized." 

Jack gave a noncommittal grunt. "So what's this LeBlanc character got to do with all of this?" 

"I'm guessing they got him to pick up where my father left off," said Yusei, "and if that letter of yours is to be believed, he's about to finish the same way my father did." 

"So let me guess," said Jack. "You two probably want to stop that from happening, and you want me to help." 

"That would be an accurate assessment," said Yusei. "Unfortunately, this is the first I've ever heard of Professor LeBlanc. I have no idea where to begin finding him, do you?" 

"No idea," said Jack. 

Bruno shrugged. "I'm in the same boat." 

"We'll look for him," said Yusei. "Someone in this place must have heard of him." He gave Jack one of his serious looks. "We won't demand that you help us if you don't want to. We would prefer if you did, but even if you don't, we'll still fix your cycle for you, no charge, and you'll be free to leave. Or stay here. You'll be safe enough from anyone looking for you." 

"It doesn't make much difference whether I want to help or not," Jack muttered, "since none of us know what we're supposed to be doing. But I'll think about it until one of us figures out something." 

Bruno smiled. "I knew he'd go along with it." 

Jack decided there was nothing to be said to that, and decided to change the subject. 

"Do you have a radio?" he asked. 

"Of course," said Yusei. "The reception's not so good here, but it's over there on the shelf if you want it." 

Jack picked his way across the crowded room, dodging piles of junk, until he found the radio Yusei had mentioned, camouflaged by a variety of other odds and ends. He turned it on and fiddled with the stations until he found his favorite one. While the music played, he shoved things around until he'd cleared a place to sit, and he settled back to let his mind wander. 

Eventually, the music stopped, and Carly's voice cut in. 

"Good afternoon, listeners!" she chirped. "We're seeing clear skies throughout the region today, so keep your sun visors handy! Temperatures will be up in the eighties today, so make sure you have plenty of water. And now for today's debate, we'll hear experts discussing the merits of..." 

Jack didn't bother to listen to what the experts would be discussing. He jumped to his feet and barged back over to Yusei and Bruno's workspace. 

"I know who knows where to find the professor," he said. 

"Who?" asked Bruno. 

"How?" asked Yusei. "You didn't know a minute ago." 

"I knew. I didn't know I knew," said Jack. "But I just remembered where I heard the name before. He was on Carly's talk show. She would know where the broadcast came from." 

"You know, she probably would," said Yusei, looking thoughtful. 

"It wouldn't be any trouble to find her," said Bruno. "And nobody is going to be watching a soundhouse. Why bother, when no one ever goes there?" 

Yusei smiled at Jack. "It looks like you've helped us, after all." 

"Great," said Jack. "So you're going to go see her now?" 

"Well, it will take a little time to finish putting your cycle back together," said Yusei. "That is, if you're planning on coming with us. Of course, if you don't mind waiting for us to get back..." 

Jack waved a hand. "Get on with it. I'll come with you. There's nowhere else for me to go." 

"Thank you," said Yusei. "Glad to have you aboard. We'll take all the help we can get." 

"Don't thank me," Jack muttered. "I just don't like these people messing with my life. If you're going to teach them a lesson, then count me in." 

Yusei nodded as though that had been what he'd expected. 

"We'll leave as soon as Crow gets back," he said. 

"I'll be ready," Jack promised. 

Bruno grinned. "I'll get the battleship ready." 

Jack raised an eyebrow. His day, it seemed, had not yet reached the final depths of weirdness to which it could sink. 

"Battleship?" he asked. 

“Just wait and see,” said Bruno. 

****

To Be Continued…


	3. Soundhouse

****

Jack leaned against a wall and watched Yusei and Bruno loading up their supplies. 

Like every courier, he knew all about tankers, and looked on them with a certain amount of scorn and a certain amount of pity. Courier cycles were built with one goal in mind, and that was to go from place to place as fast as humanly possible. Tankers, on the other hand, were built to carry large items or loads of cargo, or occasionally human beings, and that meant that they were sturdy to the point of being nearly indestructible. They also moved at a crawl, covering the space that Jack could cross in a day over the course of a week or more. He could and occasionally did drive rings around them when he was feeling like showing off. 

Yusei and Bruno’s "battleship" turned out to be an old tanker that they had obtained somehow or other, and apparently stripped down and refitted to their particular desires. It still had the armored hull, but the tank treads the original model had come with had been removed and replaced with large tires, and the insides had been gutted and refurbished with a variety of computer equipment. It would be a lot faster than a normal tanker, but still resilient enough to provide some protection against storms or monsters. There were also two cycles secured in the back, presumably in case they needed to make a hasty exit. Jack watched as Bruno revved it up and sent it lumbering up a ramp to the outside world. 

Crow met them outside. 

"Looks like we're ready to roll," he said. "Where to?" 

"We're going to talk to someone who can hopefully tell us where to find the professor," said Jack. 

"Works for me," said Crow. "Ready when you guys are." 

Jack was prepared to be frustrated by the speed of the battleship, but much to his surprise, it rolled along at a good clip, with Bruno at the steering wheel and Yusei manning the computers, guiding their course and occasionally radioing instructions or warnings to Jack and Crow when difficult terrain came up ahead. After a while, Jack began to relax. His life revolved around having a series of destinations and moving towards them, and it was good to finally know where he was going. 

At least he was going somewhere that sounded interesting. He had been listening to Carly's voice for years, and now he was going to meet her face to face. As he rolled steadily over the featureless terrain, he whiled away some time by wondering what she looked like. The other women, the ones who ran the sex-talk programs, always described themselves as impossibly gorgeous, with measurements that bordered on the unreal and hair of whatever color was trendy this month, but he doubted they actually looked like that in real life. Or maybe some of them did - perhaps if you were impossibly gorgeous, living alone in a soundhouse was preferable to living in a city and being ogled all day. 

He couldn't picture Carly that way, though. She had to have some imperfection to her - had to have an unsightly birthmark or crooked teeth or overlarge ears, something that would place her squarely within the realms of reality, like the flaws that the artisans purposely put into rugs or art glass to show that they had been made by human hands. He wanted her to be a real person. 

While he was daydreaming, he let his cycle pull up ahead of the battleship. The team had been keeping to a relatively straight course, after all, and Yusei was still comfortably within radio distance. As long as he could still see his companions in the rearview mirror, he felt comfortable with driving ahead of them. The need for speed was a hard habit to break. He almost didn't notice when the wind started picking up. 

"Jack, wait up." Yusei's voice cut into his thoughts, hissing with static through his helmet's receiver. "Our radar is picking up a storm building through here. You need to get under cover." 

Jack stopped his cycle, skidding and kicking up a cloud of dust that was swiftly snatched away by the wind. He looked up at the sky. The smooth gray clouds that had been no more than a pleasant shade from the sun a few moments ago were now taking on the tell-tale spiral shape that meant a spirit storm was on its way. Jack swore. The vortex wasn't tight enough yet that he was in danger, but that could change at any second. He revved his engine and began driving back towards the battleship at top speed. Even if though he had gotten well ahead of them, it should only take a matter of seconds to backtrack. 

"Jack, look out!" 

Yusei's exclamation was all the warning he got before a shadow fell over him. 

That was the other danger of spirit storms: they attracted monsters. 

Jack risked a look over his shoulder, and immediately wished he hadn't. A monster was sailing through the sky above him, moving with an ease and speed that put his cycle to shame. It looked like a dragon straight from an old storybook - a reptilian thing with broad wings and a body covered in red and black scales. Its horned head moved from side to side as it scanned the ground below it, but it always kept pace with Jack. 

"Damn it," he muttered. "Yusei, can your battleship contraption stand up to that?" 

"I don't know. We've never tried," Yusei admitted. "Not with something that big." 

"Fine," said Jack. "Just get out of the way, then." 

He executed a sudden swerve, and the dragon dipped its wings and followed him, roaring with what Jack could only imagine was excitement at pursuing its prey. 

_You want a chase? Then let's have one!_

Jack wove his way across the wasteland, dodging rocks and ruts, executing hairpin turns. His plan was to distract the monster - to shake it off his trail entirely if possible, but if not, to keep it away from the others long enough for them to find some sort of safety. 

A gust of wind pushed him hard enough to make his cycle wobble, and he gritted his teeth and forced it upright again. The storm was picking up its tempo. At this rate, even if he wasn't eaten by a dragon, he might well find himself caught in the storm. Of the two possibilities, the storm worried him more. He might yet save himself by finding a rut to hide in, something narrow enough that the dragon couldn't reach him. Monsters were dangerous, but they were essentially a physical threat, and could be understood by normal physical laws. No one seemed to know _what_ the spirit storms did. Anyone who had the misfortune to get caught in one was rarely seen again. Sometimes their cycle or a stray scrap of clothing might turn up, dropped somewhere further down the line, but bodies usually just vanished. The ones that did reappear tended to be crushed and broken, as though dropped from a great height. Neither possibility was one that Jack wanted to gamble on. 

The wind was blowing steadily now. Jack could see the center of the storm growing darker, becoming visible as a solid column of dust. More trails of dust and rubble were being drawn into the vortex. He stared at it in fascination. No, it wasn't spinning, the way a tornado would. It was a perfectly straight and stationary column, pulling a steady stream of air and debris towards it as though it were a magnet and they were iron filings. It was as though someone had pulled a plug in the sky and the world was draining out. What kind of thing could do that? 

Whatever it was, Jack didn't want it. He tried to angle himself away from the heart of the storm, but the winds fought him. It wasn't just the wind, either. He could feel the force of the storm on his skin, now, and pulling at his hair and clothes, as though he was being drawn along by strands of invisible glue. He fought it. He gunned his cycle's engine and tried to pull away, but his tires spun uselessly on the sandy ground. He realized in a flash that he was already too late; that he was already past the point of no return. He fought the futile urge to throw himself from his cycle, as though the storm might be satisfied to take that and leave him. He wished the monster would come eat him and get it over with. 

The center of the storm was only a few yards away now, and approaching rapidly. Clouds of dust billowed around him, making vision all but impossible, even with the visor of his helmet protecting his eyes. He couldn't see the ground anymore, but he could feel that the storm was pulling him gently upwards, so that his cycle bobbed and bounced and finally left the earth altogether. The irrelevant thought slipped through his mind that he was at least going to learn what it felt like to fly before he died. 

Then he passed into the eye of the storm, and his vision cleared. He was inside a tall funnel of air and dust. Instinctively, he looked upwards, straining for a look at the sky, and he thought he saw sunlight, bright and glowing and... green? There was something green up there, bright as an emerald, and he squinted at it, trying to get a better look. 

Something slammed into him. It hit him with such force that at first he thought the storm had picked up a rock and sent it hurtling at him, but then he realized that whatever had struck him now had hold of him. It was the dragon, of course, apparently answering Jack's earlier wish to eat him. Ignoring the storm, the dragon dropped to the earth, landing awkwardly on its hind legs, with Jack in one claw and his cycle in the other. Jack struggled, but the monster was stronger than he was. He wondered if it would kill him swiftly or play with him a bit first. 

It did neither. It lowered Jack gently to the ground and crouched over him, shielding him from the storm with its wings. It was like being inside a very large, warm, breathing tent. Jack sat perfectly still, waiting for whatever came next. 

The storm ended with a sudden silence. One moment, the wind was howling, and the next, everything was completely calm. The dragon looked around a bit, reassuring itself that all was well. Then it rose back on its hind legs and looked down at Jack, and all at once, he knew for certain that this creature wasn't going to eat him. It wasn't going to hurt him at all. Its eyes were utterly inhuman, but there was more intelligence in them than he'd seen in some people, and no malice whatsoever. Jack stood up and dusted himself off. 

"Thanks," he said, because friendly or not, a dragon was something to be treated politely. 

The dragon dipped its head in response, then launched itself into the air and flapped away. Jack stood and watched it go, and he wondered. 

A few minutes later, the rest of the group pulled up next to him. Crow screeched to a halt and vaulted off his cycle. 

"Are you crazy?" he shouted. "Man, you could have gotten yourself killed! I thought we were trying to _avoid_ that." 

"I think I did well, considering I had a storm on one side and a monster on the other," said Jack. 

Crow punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Man, you are the luckiest bastard I ever saw. I thought you were a goner for sure." 

"I lead a charmed life," said Jack dryly. "Can we get going before anything else tries to kill us?" 

"Not a bad idea," said Crow. "But hey, just for kicks, maybe you should ride in the tank for a while." 

Jack considered. 

"Not a bad idea," he said. 

* * *

Evening was drawing near by the time they saw the soundhouse in the distance. Jack was mildly intrigued. He had never been inside a soundhouse before. Each major city had a broadcast station that existed mainly to send out basic news to be picked up and passed on by the neighboring soundhouses, but most of the real work was done by stations that were scattered far afield, and he'd never had any reason to go near one. It looked like every other safe house he'd ever been to, a squat and heavily reinforced building not unlike a miniature colony dome, except for the antenna. Just now, it was standing proudly above the structure, though he'd been told that the device could be withdrawn into the safety of the building if a storm or some other threat appeared. 

Crow pulled up alongside of him. 

"Looks like we're in luck. We get to sleep indoors tonight," he said cheerfully. "Nice of you to pick out a woman for us to visit. Do you suppose she's cute?" 

"That's not the point," said Jack, "and I have no idea and I don't care." 

Crow laughed. "Hey, if you don't want her, maybe I stand a chance." 

They pulled up to the door of the soundhouse and parked their vehicles. Out of curiosity, Jack tried his passcard in the slot by the door, and was surprised to see the machine spit it out again. He looked to Yusei and Bruno, who were getting out of their battleship. 

"Tech people, a little help?" he asked. 

Bruno walked over to the security mechanism to give it a closer look. He was just reaching under his vest for a tool when the door suddenly slid open. 

"I didn't do anything!" said Bruno, raising his hands to show his innocence. 

"Who cares?" Jack retorted. "It's open. Let's get inside before someone changes their mind." 

They pulled their vehicles into the airlock. It was a small one, barely large enough for the battleship, and Crow and Jack were forced to park their cycles inside the larger machine to make everything fit. Once they were safely inside, the inner door opened, and a young woman came bursting out. 

"I'm so sorry I made you wait!" she said. "I don't usually have visitors. Um... who are you guys, anyway?" 

Jack looked at her. Down at her - she barely came up to his shoulder. He scrutinized her, trying to work out whether or not she was attractive. It wasn't something he could decide as a snap judgment. Her clothes had clearly been chosen for durability and ease of movement, rather than fashion, but the figure cloaked by them was shapely. Her hair was in an unflattering angular cut, but it still had an attractive gloss to it and looked thick and soft. Her face was half-hidden by a pair of thick spectacles, but the eyes he could see behind them were bright with intelligence, and her skin was smooth, without wrinkles or blemishes. Jack was not much in the habit of staring at women, but he thought he could get used to the idea of looking at this one. She rewarded a closer look. 

Yusei stepped in and took over the task of making conversation. 

"I'm Yusei," he said, "and these are my friends Bruno, Crow, and Jack. We were hoping you'd share some information with us about one of your reports." 

"Hi. Nice to meet you," she said. "I'm..." 

"Carly Nagisa," Jack filled in. "I recognize your voice." 

"Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense," she said, flushing slightly. "Anyway, I guess as long as you're here, you might as well come in." 

She beckoned them out of the airlock and into her domain. It was not a very big place, Jack noted - it reminded him strongly of a more orderly version of Yusei and Bruno's home. Apparently they felt the same way; he could see them looking around and nodding with approval. There was a little living area off to one side, with some chairs and a scrap of rug, but it looked like it didn't get used much for sitting. Papers had been scattered all over every flat surface, piled as though someone had intended to organize them and had never gotten around to finishing. There was a shelf tucked between the two chairs, holding what appeared to be a well-worn collection of books. He ambled closer, carefully avoiding the heaps of paper, and inspected the titles; they all had names like _The Desert Wanderer_ and _The Adventures of the Lone Rider_. Beyond the sitting area, an arched doorway showed him a glimpse of an equally well-used kitchen, with plates and dishes piled wherever they would fit. 

In contrast, the other side of the building was almost fanatically well-organized. Through another arched door, Jack could see rows and rows of shelves, each containing flattish boxes that he guessed were recordings of some sort. They seemed to have color-coded labels on them, though he didn't quite dare to go in there and find out more about them. It wasn't the kind of place that looked like it welcomed intruders. Against one wall, almost out of his range of vision, stood a bank of computer monitors, flickering and humming to themselves. At the center of everything was a spiral staircase, leading up into the unknown. 

"Sorry it's such a mess," said Carly. "If I'd known you were coming, I would have cleaned up a little." Something about the guilty way she said it made Jack guess that no, she probably would have gotten interested in something along the way and ended up with nothing more than good intentions. 

"That's okay," said Crow. "We weren't expecting a luxury hotel." 

Bruno nodded. "Like he said, we just came to ask some questions. We won't stay long." 

Carly gestured at the chairs under their blankets of paper. "You can sit down. Just shove stuff out of the way." 

Yusei, Bruno, and Crow dug seats for themselves. Jack opted to lean against the bookshelf, not yet ready to make himself at home here. Carly sat cross-legged on the floor in a manner that suggested she was accustomed to doing so, and began distractedly sifting through the nearest stack of papers. 

"So what did you want to know?" she asked. 

"Jack tells us that you recently aired a lecture by a Professor LeBlanc," said Yusei. 

Carly nodded. "That's right. He was talking about whether monsters are sentient. Do you want me to play it for you?" 

"That's all right," said Yusei. "What we really want is to find Professor LeBlanc. Can you tell us where the recording came from?" 

"Sure, that's easy," she said. "It came from the university at the Cavalier colony. I have a deal with them." 

"Perfect," said Bruno. "So we just need to go to Cavalier and visit the university. Or one of us does, anyway." 

Yusei put a hand over one of Bruno's. "You had better not do anything to draw attention to yourself." 

"So send Jack," said Crow. "He's still a hotshot courier. Just tell 'em he has a delivery for someone in the university and they'll let him right in." 

Carly gave Jack an intrigued look. "You're a courier? Does that mean you're Jack Atlas?" 

"You've heard of me," he said, nodding his head in acknowledgement. 

"Well, yeah, of course I've heard of you! You're famous!" she gushed. "I mean, everybody tells stories about you, and I hear everything that gets broadcasted. Wow, I can't believe I'm meeting you in person. You look just like I imagined..." 

"So do you," said Jack. 

She blushed crimson. "You mean you... that is..." 

Crow rolled his eyes. "Oh, boy, here we go." 

Jack shot him a look, and Carly pushed her glasses up her nose self-consciously. 

"Sorry," she said. "I don't really get to meet a lot of people out here." 

"It's all right," said Yusei, looking amused. 

"So, are you guys going to visit a while?" she asked. "I mean, it's getting late out now - the university is probably all closed up for the day. Wouldn't it be better if you stayed the night and set out in the morning? I don't mind fixing breakfast." 

"Well, we are kind of in a..." Bruno began, and Crow stepped on his foot. "I mean, I guess we could stay a while." 

"I wouldn't mind having a look around the station," said Yusei. He and Bruno were already gravitating towards the computers Jack had glimpsed in the other room. 

"I guess that would be all right," said Carly. "The broadcasting studio is upstairs. That room over there is just the library and the receiver. The trapdoor in the kitchen leads to the pantry - there's food down there if you want it." 

"Are you sure that's okay?" Crow asked. "I wouldn't want us to eat you out of house and home." 

She waved him towards the kitchen. "It's fine. They feed us keepers pretty well, I guess to make up for us not getting to go to the city. And I have tankers drop by every couple of days anyway, so I won't have to wait long for more." 

"That's all I need to hear," said Crow. He stood up and winked at Jack. "You two have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." 

Jack raised his chin. "I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"If you guys are staying the night, I guess I'd better see if I can find somewhere for you to sleep," said Carly. "I'll go see if I can find some spare blankets or something. Be right back!" 

She scrambled up the staircase and disappeared. Crow glanced at Jack and raised an eyebrow. 

"Well?" he asked. "Aren't you going to follow her?" 

"Why would I do that?" Jack asked, puzzled. 

Crow rolled his eyes. "Come on, don't play dumb. You haven't taken your eyes off her since you got here, and she's obviously into you. You've got the whole mutual admiration society thing going on. You ought to talk to her." 

"About what?" 

"Geez, man," said Crow. "You spend too much time on the road or something. A cute girl's got her eye on you. Aren't you interested at all?" 

"Well..." 

"Shoot, for all you know, you might be dead tomorrow. Might as well have some fun while you can," said Crow. "As for me, I'm going to have dinner. Good luck, champ." 

"I don't need good luck, because I'm not going to do anything," said Jack, but Crow was already walking away. Jack huffed and stalked off. 

But not far. With Crow in the kitchen and Bruno and Yusei in the control room, there wasn't much privacy to be had. The only way to go was up. He contemplated the stairs for a moment. After a moment, he shrugged and began to climb. At least there would be something at the top that he hadn't seen before. 

The second floor was another donut-shaped space, with a lot of equipment in the center that he guessed was for extending and retracting the antenna. The rest of the area was lined with doors, one of which was standing open. Jack could hear noises inside, so he peeked into it. Carly was there, moving things around. Apparently the room, while originally conceived as a bedroom, had been converted to storage space instead, and Carly was busy trying to clear a trail through it. 

"Need help?" he asked. 

"Huh? Oh!" she said. "Um... I guess that couldn't hurt." 

Jack began moving boxes, stacking them in a pile in one of the corners. Carly worked on the other side of the room, shooting him glances when she thought he wasn't looking. 

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked. 

"Sure, I guess," Carly replied. 

"Who writes those adventure stories you read on your show?" 

She blushed. "I did. I guess it's kind of presumptuous to read my own work on the air but..." 

"No, it's not," he said. "They're good. I listen to them a lot." 

"Oh!" she said. "Wow. Thanks! That... that means a lot to me." 

"I'm surprised you're not living in one of the bigger colonies, writing for a paying audience," said Jack. "You could do it. What are you doing out here?" 

"To tell the truth... well, I grew up on stories about couriers. I wanted to be one," she said. "You know, traveling the world, bringing the news to people... but I couldn't pass the physicals." She pushed her glasses up her nose self-consciously. 

Jack shook his head, feeling an unaccustomed stab of sympathy. One of the requirements for a courier was that they had to have vision good enough to drive safely without any sort of eye-gear. There were too many ways a pair of glasses could be lost or broken out in the wilderness, and if you couldn't see to drive without them, you were as good as dead. 

"So after that," she continued, "I figured my options were to either drive a tanker or run a soundhouse, and I liked the soundhouse idea better. At least here, I'm still delivering the news." 

Jack nodded. "You'd have been wasted on a tanker." 

She smiled. "You know... I based the main character off the stories I heard about you." 

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me as much as it should," Jack said. "But it does surprise me that you never wrote a woman into his life." 

"It didn't feel right," she said. She turned a little away, avoiding meeting his eyes. "I guess I always imagined myself that way... it would have been too personal to put on the air for everyone to hear. I guess that's not very realistic, though, is it? I mean, somebody like you probably has dozens of girlfriends, right?" 

"No," he said. "Actually, I haven't." 

Despite a lot of fiction that had been written over the years, the life of a courier was not a particularly romantic one. They didn't socialize much, beyond their mandated rest periods, and there was no predicting when any given one of their number would return to a particular colony, or if they'd ever come back at all. When it came to attachments, they seemed to fall into three categories: the ones who had a lover in every city, the ones who were faithful to someone they might only see a few days out of every year, and the ones who never took the trouble to get involved. Jack was in the latter category. He was not a sociable man by nature, and the idea of letting even an attractive stranger put her hands all over him made him uneasy. He had always told himself that he was a courier, and that meant that his life would be an unattached one by necessity. 

"That sounds lonely," said Carly softly. 

"It wasn't that bad," he said. "That's what you're here for, isn't it? The voice in the wilderness that talks to us all and keeps us sane. That’s what they all say." 

It occurred to him that he was still talking like he was a courier, and that it was no longer true. He wasn't sure what he was anymore, but the odds of him ever going back to being one were getting slimmer by the day. But now, for the first time, he was beginning to wonder if maybe it wouldn't be all bad. His old life _had_ been a lonely one. He wasn’t sure who he was going to be from now on. Maybe the new Jack had relationships. 

It was possible that Crow had a point. Not that he was going to admit that. Not to him, anyway. 

"I'm just the one who reports the news and weather," said Carly. "I would have figured if you'd listen to the other ladies if you wanted... you know." 

"You're the one I listened to," he said. "You're the one who told me the things I needed to stay alive, and the one who gave me something to think about besides how many miles it will be until the next rest stop. Even if we've never met before now, I feel like you've been a good friend to me." 

She blushed. "You don't even know me." 

"You don't know me either," he pointed out. "And by tomorrow, I'll probably be gone again. But for what it's worth, we've got tonight to get to know each other." 

"I guess you're right," she said. She smiled, suddenly and brilliantly, like someone who has just realized that things are much better than she realized. "Let's get to know each other then." 

****

To Be Continued


	4. Angel

****

Angel

****

By: SilvorMoon

Jack never found out where the others slept that night. Presumably they had figured out an acceptable arrangement for themselves, because they were all wide awake and in good spirits when he joined them around the kitchen table for breakfast. While Carly directed various people to find spare plates and forks or sent them down to the pantry for ingredients, Crow flashed Jack a grin and asked, "Did you sleep well?" Jack didn't bother to answer. There was nothing he could say that would make him shut up, anyway. 

Eventually they all found themselves sitting around the table, some on chairs and some on packing crates Carly had told them didn't hold anything important. She had whipped up the kind of breakfast Jack wouldn't have expected to find anywhere but in one of the more prosperous cities, and it was clear that most of her guests were not used to eating anywhere near so well. Carly seemed pleased to have such appreciative guests - or else she was just enjoying having other people around to rope into helping her with the housework. 

"Are you sure you guys can't hang around for a while?" she asked. "It's kind of nice having company." 

"I don't think that's possible," said Yusei regretfully. "There are some dangerous people who might be looking for us. It's not safe for us here." 

"Besides, this isn't your fight," said Bruno. 

"If there's anything left of us when we get back, we'll definitely come by to visit," Crow assured her. 

Jack sipped thoughtfully at his coffee. "What do you know about the university where this LeBlanc character teaches?" 

"Only a little," she admitted. "They send me articles a lot. I think one of the staff there is a fan or something." 

"But you know something," Jack pressed. 

"What do you want to know?" she replied. 

"I thought you might be able to advise us on how to negotiate our way inside," Jack said. "They might let me pass because of my reputation, but they won't let these three in, and I won't know what to ask about when I get there. Yusei and Bruno will. If we have someone familiar to them to speak up for us, they might be more inclined to listen." 

Crow snickered. Jack glared at him, but he merely grinned and winked. 

Yusei frowned. "Jack, we can't ask her to come with us. It's too dangerous for her." 

"He's right," said Bruno. "This is our fight. These people are _dangerous_. She could get hurt." 

"And if anyone finds out we were here, a spiritstorm could conveniently wipe out her soundhouse with her in it," Jack retorted. "She's in whether we like it or not." 

Carly nodded. "I'm not afraid. I want to come." 

"Won't someone notice your station has stopped airing, if you leave?" Yusei asked. 

"I can buy myself some time," she said. "I'll send a message to some of the other keepers and tell them I sprained my back doing repair work, and I'll set the computers to play pre-recorded stuff for a few days. No one will notice I'm not here. Not for a while, anyway." 

"I hope you know what you're doing," said Bruno. He still didn't look happy; he'd stopped eating and was stirring his food around on his plate. 

She shook her head. "I don't. I haven't left this building in years. I don't know _anything_ except what comes in through the news. I want to go out. No matter how dangerous it is, I want to see something different for a change." 

"Aw, let her come," said Crow. "She won't take up much room. You never know, she might turn out to be useful sometime." 

"Three to two," Jack declared, fixing his gaze on Yusei and Bruno. "You're outvoted." 

Yusei frowned. Then he laughed softly. "I suppose we are. All right, you win. If you want to come, you can come. Pack up anything you think you're going to need and meet us at the tanker." 

Carly gave a little squeak of excitement and scurried off to pack. Crow gave Jack a knowing look. 

"You two must have had some night last night," he said. 

Jack calmly took a bite of his toast. "We talked, mostly." 

"Talked?" Crow repeated. "For real?" 

"Right," said Jack. "Got to know each other. She told me about her life, I talked about how I became a courier. Things like that." 

"Not exactly an exciting night," said Crow. 

"I said _mostly_ ," said Jack. "Why are you so interested in my personal life, anyway?" 

"I live under a rock in the middle of the desert," said Crow. "If I can't have a love life, I'll bug you about yours." 

"How did you become a courier, anyway?" asked Bruno. 

Jack had the distinct sense that he was trying to change the subject before it got to uncomfortably personal, and Jack didn't blame him. He was in no mood to discuss such intimate details when he was still not entirely comfortable with living them. 

"Luck, mostly," he said. "I lived with foster families until I was about fourteen or so - old enough to start looking for work. Only not many people wanted to give jobs to a Satelliter." 

Crow nodded and winced a little. Even now, there were still people who believed superstitiously that the children of the only colony ever to suffer such a catastrophic failure brought some of that colony's bad luck with them, and that it would spread to any endeavor they touched. 

"Anyway," Jack continued, "one of the younger Death's Angels, Kiryu, he decided to take a chance on me and said if I had the stomach for the work, I could tag along with him. He wasn't much older than me, but he was good at the job. I learned a lot from him - he was like a big brother to me. I got good at the work too, after a while. Then someone noticed I was getting back from missions faster than anyone else, even on those rattletraps I had to drive, so someone decided to give me a chance at courier work. They sent me on a short trip to the next colony over, and they liked how I performed, so here I am." 

"I can't see you as a Death's Angel," said Bruno. He shuddered a little. "Ick." 

"It's usually not so bad," said Jack. "After they've been there a while, they start to dry out..." 

"Don't tell me, don't tell me!" said Bruno, clapping his hands over his ears. 

"Don't tell you what?" asked Carly. She reappeared carrying a bag that looked like it had originally been a pillowcase. It bulged with odds and ends. 

"Jack was telling us about his colorful past," Yusei explained. 

"Oh, like he was telling me, about the Death's Angels and stuff?" she asked. "That was interesting. It gave me a lot of ideas for new stories." 

"You've got a stronger stomach than I've got," said Bruno, making a face. 

"You're going to get a lot more ideas if you stick with us," Crow remarked. "Assuming you make it home alive." 

She smiled knowingly. "I figure between the four of you, I'm pretty safe." 

Crow nodded approvingly. "Tough woman." 

"It sounds as though we're all going," said Yusei, pushing his empty plate away. "If that's the case, we had better go sooner rather than later." 

"Right," said Crow, standing. "Head 'em up and move 'em out!" 

"Jack, how long will it take for us to get to Chevalier?" Yusei asked. 

Jack considered. "At my top speed, if the way was clear, about two days. We should figure it will take longer driving your battleship." 

"I'll leave the computers set for a week, then," said Carly. "That'll give me time to get back." 

"Mind if we take some supplies with us?" asked Bruno, indicating the empty breakfast plates. "We weren't planning on an extra guest and another week's travel time." 

"Knock yourself out," she said. She was already heading for her computers. "Anything you need, grab it. I won't be here to miss it, right?" 

Jack saw Yusei and Bruno glance at the scattered mechanical parts, and then at each other, and decided that loading could take a while. 

He watched the rest of the group scatter on various errands - to program the radio shows, or clean up the kitchen, or to start packing up food and other necessities. He thought about helping, decided that he didn't know enough about what anyone needed to do anything but get in the way, and chose instead to go upstairs where it was quiet. He had spent most of his night being sociable, and that was several hours more than he was used to. Already he was eager for the peace of the open road. 

At the top of the stairs, he let himself back into the room he'd occupied the night before. There was a window there, made of thick glass, with shutters that could be pulled down from the outside to protect them from the desert winds. He opened them now and felt the warm air brush his skin. There was a good view from up there, better than he'd realized in the dark. He could see the great flat sweep of the plains going on for miles, and in the distance, the jagged edges and humps of rock hills. 

And one more thing. He blinked and shielded his eyes with one hand. Yes, it was still there: a reddish dark spot flitting along the horizon. He stared at it for a long time. It didn't go away. It flew back and forth, like something on a patrol - or, he thought, like it was waiting for something. 

"Hey, Jack! You sleeping up here or what?" Crow's voice called. "Wake up! We're ready to hit the road!" 

"I'm not sleeping," Jack muttered, but he pulled down the shutter and closed the window. 

Downstairs, he found the rest of the group waiting in the airlock. Crow was already astride his cycle, and Yusei was at the wheel of the battleship, while Carly helped Bruno load the last of the supplies into its hold. Jack climbed onto his own ride and waited for everyone to get situated. 

"Do you mind taking the lead?" Yusei asked him. "You've been to Chevalier before, haven't you? You'd know the lay of the land better than I would." 

Jack nodded. "I'm ready when you are." 

Bruno and Carly jumped onto the battleship and slammed the hatch door shut. Crow reached for a control panel near the door and started the outside door sliding slowly open. Heat and sand rushed into the room, and shafts of sunlight briefly dazzled Jack's eyes. Then he pulled his helmet on and revved his engines. He waved a hand for everyone to follow him before rushing out into the dusty world. The rumble of his engine made his spirits rise. Even if he wasn't a true courier anymore, he was on the road again, delivering a message of utmost importance. He was where he belonged. 

As he drove, he glanced behind him to make sure that none of the others was having any problems following him. As he did, he noticed that the speck in the distance was still there, but it didn't seem to be flitting back and forth anymore. It was holding steady in the middle of the horizon. He glanced back at it several times, just to be sure. It stayed far off, too far to be seen clearly, but there was no doubt in his mind of what it was doing. 

It was following them. 

* * *

They had stopped for lunch. 

The team had settled in the shadow of one of the great rocks that dotted the landscape. There was no place in the wasteland that was pleasant for a human being to stop and stay, but the rocks were the best it had to offer. This one was conveniently placed to block the harsh winds and to offer some protection from the scorching sunlight. It was a place where people could park their vehicles, stretch stiff limbs, relieve themselves, and enjoy the novelty of standing still for a while. 

It was their third day on the road. They had been making better time than Jack had expected. By day, they pushed themselves as hard as they could, and at night, they parked wherever it looked safe and huddled around their campfire for warmth and companionship. It was a strange sensation. Jack was used to nights being the loneliest parts of his journeying. Now he was beginning to look forward to them. By day, he had to pay attention to the road ahead of him, and to the weather and monster reports on his radio. At night, though, he and his fellow travelers could sit down together to talk and joke and engage in cheerful arguments. Carly told stories that she invented during the long daylight rides. Sometimes, if he was feeling particularly sociable, Jack would tell his less-traveled companions about the distant places he'd visited and the near misses he'd lived through. There wasn't much privacy for one-to-one conversations, but there was enough that he could sleep at night with Carly curled up next to him. 

He didn't think about what he was going to do when all of this was over. If he went back to his old work, or even anything like his old work, he wouldn't be traveling with companions any longer. He wasn't sure there was anything that _would_ permit that. 

Instead, he was thinking about what was behind him. 

"Have any of you noticed," he said, "that we're being followed?" 

Yusei looked up from where he'd been resting. "What do you mean?" 

Instead of speaking, Jack beckoned for Yusei to come stand where he was standing. Jack had clambered up to the top of a small ridge of stone, giving him a slightly higher perspective and a better view of the horizon. 

For the last three days, Jack had been keeping half an eye on the sky behind him. The dark spot he had seen the day they had left was still there, always just within sight, never getting any closer but never vanishing for long either. He couldn't get a good look at the speck, but the flashes of color he got when the sun glanced off of it made him think that it was some shade of red, and he couldn't fight the feeling that it was the same red-and-black dragon that had saved him from the storm. He could have almost rationalized that - that this creature had taken some sort of personal interest in him and was following him at a distance. What he couldn't explain was why it had been joined by more spots. One of them was about the same size, but paler in color, and the rest were too small and fast for him to form any impressions about. It made him wonder uneasily just how many of them there were that he wasn't seeing at all. If there were more following from ground level... 

Yusei came to stand beside him and squinted into the light. 

"What is it?" he asked. 

Jack shook his head. "I'm not sure. They've been there the last couple of days. There was just one at first, but there are more every day. They never get any closer. Sometimes they drop out of sight, but they always come back." 

"Strange," said Yusei, frowning. "I haven't heard of monsters behaving that way before... They don't look man-made, either." 

"Too many weird things," said Jack. 

Yusei shrugged. "It can't be helped. The best we can do is to try to get to Chevalier and out of sight." 

"Mm," said Jack. 

"You have other ideas?" Yusei asked. 

"I don't know," Jack admitted. "If they wanted to hurt us they would have done it by now. I just wish I knew what they _did_ want." 

"We'll keep an eye on them," Yusei promised. He turned and began walking towards the battleship. "Come on. I think it's time we moved out." 

"You're probably right," Jack agreed. 

They ambled back to the campground, where the others were busy cleaning up after their meal. 

"If my maps are right," Bruno was saying, "we'll probably reach Chevalier today. We aren't very far." 

"Good," said Carly. "I hear it's the most beautiful colony in the world. I've always wanted to see it." 

"Where are you from, anyway?" Crow asked. 

"I was born in Taiyou," she admitted. 

The others made noises of understanding. Taiyou was a small colony, devoted more to agriculture than anything else. There was very little to see or do there unless one was interested in the raising of crops or animals, and had few visitors besides tankers of cargo. Jack had been there once or twice to deliver mail, and had found the people hospitable but the surroundings uninteresting. He could see why she would have wanted to get out. Chevalier, on the other hand, was a center of culture, where the populace dealt with their isolation by devoting themselves to arts from architecture to pottery, and their cooking was renowned as the best in the world. 

"It's a nice place," he said. "You'll like it." 

They were just clearing away their things and preparing to hit the road again when something seemed to catch Crow's attention. He froze in place, and the others stopped what they were doing to look at him. 

"Do you hear that?" he said. "Something's coming." 

"A monster?" asked Yusei, worriedly scanning the sky. 

"Monsters don't make noise like that," said Jack, already moving towards his vehicle. "That's a cycle. Let's move!" 

There was a scramble. Tidiness forgotten, they threw their tents and utensils into the back of the battleship and dove into their seats. Yusei began to drive even before the tanker's back doors were shut. Jack, faster off the mark, drove circles around them to build momentum while he waited for the others to get going. Already the noise could be traced to a bright silver speck throwing up dust as it drove over the distant landscape. If he could see it, there was no doubt that its driver could see them, too. 

"What do you think?" Crow asked over the short wave. 

"Hm," said Jack. He was doing mental arithmetic. If they were being followed by a cycle, there was no way that the battleship could outpace it, even with a head start. "We're going to need evasive maneuvers." 

Jack couldn't see Crow grinning, but he knew well enough to guess. "Sounds like fun." 

"Don't suppose you have any more of those pit traps," said Jack. 

"No, but that doesn't mean I haven't got some other fun tricks. Sit back and watch!" 

Before Jack could react, Crow kicked up a plume of dust and shot off in the direction of the pursuer. Jack stared a moment, muttered some uncomplimentary things about Crow's mental abilities, and took off after him. 

Crow got there first. He drove recklessly at the silver cycle, and it swerved to avoid him. Crow turned sharply and made another sweep towards him, harrying the driver and forcing him off-course. Jack wasn't sure whether or not to be impressed by his nerve; he might be reckless, but he definitely had skill. The other driver couldn't keep pace with him, and small wonder. As Jack drew closer, he realized that what he'd been seeing wasn't exactly a cycle. It had three wheels and a large trailer in back, about five feet high and nearly as wide. There was no way that something so cumbersome could have outmaneuvered an acrobat like Crow. Not that he wasn't trying; he handled the clunky machine like a stunt driver, seeming ready to tip over at any second, yet somehow always keeping at least two tires on the ground. 

Jack knew who this was, of course. This was a Death's Angel, hauling his grisly cargo to the nearest city to be given a proper sendoff, or else on his way to pick up some unlucky soul who hadn't made it across the wasteland. Jack had done the job himself - not long, but long enough to have some fellow-feeling for this one. He was about to tell Crow to knock it off, that this wasn't an enemy. 

That was when the driver looked up and saw Jack. 

"You bastard!" The words were indistinct, but there was such rage in his tone that he almost certainly had to be saying something like that, or worse. Somehow, he managed to coax more speed out of his already straining machine, enough to try to ram at Jack. Jack dodged, but the loose soil under his wheels turned his dodge into a slide, and he was forced to slow down to avoid overturning. The Death's Angel wheeled around and prepared to have another go at him. Jack struggled to get his cycle back under control as he saw the heavy cart barreling towards him. 

Out of the corner of Jack's eye, he saw a blur of motion. In the next instant, a grappling hook affixed itself to the back of the cart, with the other end anchored to Crow's cycle. Crow accelerated for all he was worth, yanking the cart sideways. The jolt was enough to unseat the rider, who suddenly found himself going one way as his ride was relentlessly pulled another way. He fell end over end onto the sandy ground. The cart went wild, and Crow was pulled with it for a few yards before it finally skidded to a stop. Jack parked his cycle a short distance from the fallen rider. 

The Death's Angel shakily pushed himself up. 

"Bastard," he said again. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm going to get you for this. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be sorry you were ever born." 

The voice was familiar. Jack stared a moment as the facts suddenly clicked into place. 

"What do you think?" Crow asked. "I say we knock him out and stuff him in his own wagon." 

"No," said Jack. "I think this is a friend." 

"Sure doesn't sound like it," Crow remarked. 

"I'm no friend of bandits," the Death's Angel snarled. 

"Times change," said Jack, sliding off his helmet. "Hello, Kiryu." 

The Angel swore again, not in fury this time but in surprise. 

"Jack?" he said. "Why are you alive?" 

"The same reason I was alive last time you saw me: nothing's killed me yet," said Jack. 

Kiryu took off his helmet and glared at it, as though he thought it might have been responsible for his confusion. Jack gave him a hand up. 

"They told me they got your breakdown signal days ago," said Kiryu. "I thought for sure you were dead." 

"So what are you doing out here?" asked Jack. "That breakdown was miles from here." 

"I followed the signals," said Kiryu. "The traces showed that you broke down between Domino and Momentum, stayed there for a while, and then followed another signal toward the old Satellite ruins. I figured one of the bandits out there must have killed you and looted you, so I kept following the traces of the other machine that hauled your cycle away." 

"I never killed anybody!" Crow protested. "I'm a thief but I have _some_ standards." 

Jack ignored him. 

"My cycle broke down," said Jack, "so Crow hauled me to a place where I could get a quick repair. Nothing to worry about." 

Kiryu did not look convinced. "I was told your last message was supposed to go to Momentum. You're days away from Momentum. I know you - you'd deliver that message on your hands and knees if you had to. Where the hell are you going?" 

"It's complicated," said Jack. "If I were you, I'd stay out of it." 

Kiryu shook his head. "Not happening. I have a reputation. I came to drag your body back to Momentum and I'll do it even if you're still alive." 

"I won't be for long if I go back to Momentum," said Jack. He sighed. "Look, I'd love to tell you what's going on, but once you know, you're in. You're better off telling them I fell down a pit or got eaten by a monster and there was nothing left to haul. You know it happens." 

"What happens when I tell them that and you come home alive?" Kiryu demanded. "I'll look like a chump." 

Jack smiled mirthlessly. "You're not in much danger of that." He started back towards his cycle. "Come on, Crow. Let's get out of here." 

"Oh, no you don't," said Kiryu, grabbing Jack's shoulder. "You aren't just walking away with a line like that. If you're planning on doing something stupid and getting yourself killed, then I'm the one who's dragging your sorry corpse back home again, got it? So don't you dare tell me I can't do my job." 

"You might end up being the one hauled home in a cart yourself," Crow warned. 

Kiryu smiled, showing enough teeth to remind Jack why not everyone found Kiryu to be easy company. 

"Fitting end," he said. 

Jack shrugged. "It's not up to me, anyway. You'd better talk it over with the rest of us lunatics." 

Within a few minutes, Jack, Crow, and Kiryu joined the other three members of the party, and they had all gathered outside the battleship to reorganize. 

"What happened out there?" Bruno asked, looking curiously at Kiryu. "You didn't take him prisoner or something, did you?" 

"He's not a prisoner," said Jack. "He's a volunteer. Everyone, this is Kiryu. Kiryu, this is Crow, Yusei, Bruno, and Carly." 

"We're fugitives from the law," said Crow cheerfully. 

"Something like that," said Yusei. "Has Jack explained to you what we're doing?" 

"No," said Kiryu. "He made vaguely ominous pronouncements and told me to keep out of his business, mostly. Does anyone else here feel like being more informative?" 

Carly, eternal source of news, said, "The government is behind the spiritstorms and they're killing anyone who gets too close to figuring that out, so we're trying to get to one of the people they want to kill before they do." 

Kiryu stared at her. "Really." 

"Succinct but accurate," said Yusei. "Jack here was given a message whose contents prove that the government is behind the storms, and contain an order for a scientist called Professor LeBlanc to be killed. We plan to warn him, and hopefully learn something from him that we can use to end the storms and the monsters once and for all." 

Kiryu still looked dubious. "I've heard a lot of crazy stories in my time..." 

"It's true," Bruno insisted. "I know about it all. I was there. And Yusei's father was one of the ones who was killed. This is real." 

"It's what brought down Satellite," said Jack softly. 

Kiryu ran a hand through his long hair, thinking. The others watched him silently. 

"Well," he said, "either you're on to something, or you're all off your rockers. Either way, I'm not going back until I've finished my job, so it looks like you've got yourself a volunteer." He folded his arms over his chest and planted his feet, defying anyone to move him. 

"We're grateful for your assistance," said Yusei. He looked thoughtful. "Not that there's any great safety in numbers for us. We still have to find a way to get into Chevalier without being noticed." 

Carly was looking thoughtfully at Kiryu's cart. 

"Actually," she said, "I might have a suggestion..." 

****

To Be Continued…


	5. The Beautiful City

**The Beautiful City**

**By: SilvorMoon**

Jack and his friends had stopped driving a short ways from the Chevalier colony dome. Yusei and Bruno were helping Jack and Crow load their cycles into the back of Kiryu's cart, while Carly watched anxiously from the driver's seat of the battleship. 

"I sure hope this works," she muttered. 

"It was your idea," Kiryu reminded her, "and we don't have any better ones." 

As the other men finished fastening the cycles into place, Kiryu approached them with an armload of gray sheets. 

"Time for me to tuck you into bed," he said, flashing one of his disturbing smiles. 

"I really don't like this," Crow muttered. "It's creepy." 

"Oh, hush," said Kiryu cheerfully. "I promise everything has been disinfected." 

Crow looked at Jack. 

"Why does that somehow make it worse?" he asked. 

"Shut up and lie down," Jack muttered. 

The cart had been designed to hold up to six bodies, strapped to narrow shelves against the walls. Jack was familiar with them, but had never actually tried to lie on one. They were hard and uncomfortable, having never been meant to accommodate the living. He lay down on a lower shelf and allowed Kiryu to secure him loosely in place. He didn't like the idea, but the restraints would keep him from falling off if the cart took an unexpected jolt. The last thing he needed was to give away the game by involuntarily grabbing something to keep from landing on the floor. Once he was secure, Kiryu draped a sheet over him, concealing him from head to toe. 

"Nighty-night," he heard Kiryu say, the sound muffled by the blanket. Then there was the sound of rustling and shuffling, as Kiryu presumably began tucking Crow, Yusei, and Bruno into their own niches. Kiryu, of course, would be driving his cart, and Carly would be driving the battleship. She did have a passcard of her own, she explained, that would allow her to return to the colony of her choosing, should she ever wish to give up her life at the station, or if her soundhouse sustained damage serious enough to make it unlivable. She had spent the better part of the morning learning how to handle the battleship's controls, and had caught on fairly well. She wasn't ready yet to make a solo cross-country trip, but she could drive it well enough that no one seeing her pull into the airlock would suspect she hadn't driven it this far on her own. 

"Is everyone secure back there?" Kiryu called. 

There were murmurs of assent. Jack attempted to make himself more comfortable on his shelf. Once the airlock doors opened, he wouldn't have any more opportunities to move. He felt the gentle lurch of the cart starting, and he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. The last thing he needed was to be given away by his racing heartbeat. 

_So this is what it's like to be dead. I always knew I'd end up here, sooner or later._

After a while, the cart slowed, then stopped. He guessed that Carly had gone ahead through the airlock, and was having her vehicle inspected. She was in less danger than the rest of them. It might be strange for her to show up driving a modified tanker with two cycles in the back, there was nothing in the rulebook that said she _couldn't_. Her story was that she'd built it herself out of things she'd bought or traded for from passing drivers, and her status as a soundhouse keeper, who would need to know how to maintain complex machinery, made the story at least superficially believable. Of course, Jack wouldn't know if they believed her or not until he'd made it past the second gate... 

The cart rumbled forwards again. He felt the bumps as the front and then rear wheels passed from hard-packed earth to metal flooring, and heard the hum and clang of the doors sliding shut behind him. He waited, drawing his breaths slowly. 

The back door's lock rattled open. Jack stopped breathing and forced every muscle to go slack. He could make out Kiryu's voice, echoing and distorted by the hollow space of the airlock, as he talked to the guard. The cart shifted as someone stepped into the hold. Jack fought the urge to start breathing again, and hoped fiercely that no one would sneeze. 

"Four?" said the guard. 

Kiryu said something in return; Jack heard the word "bandits" and something about luring people into a pit, and "could only salvage two cycles". The rest was lost to Jack, but it seemed to satisfy the guard. The doors closed again, and Jack slowly let out a sigh of relief. No one, it seemed, liked to spend very much time around the dead - except perhaps Kiryu. 

There were a few more exchanges of words, too muffled to hear, and then the cart started rolling again. It traveled a good distance this time, and Jack had enough time to start wondering if perhaps their ruse had been discovered after all. Jack had never liked being confined, and being strapped down to a narrow shelf and covered with a blanket was making him slowly frantic. He had to force himself not to start thrashing. It was cool in the cart, but he was still sweating, and his heart pounded as if it might escape without him. At last, the cart came to a halt, and the back doors opened again. 

"All clear," said Kiryu. 

"Let me _out_ ," Jack demanded. 

"I'm working on it," said Kiryu, and mercifully, the blanket was pulled away. Briskly, he undid the straps on Jack's wrists, and left him to finish unbuckling himself while Kiryu moved on to the others. Jack hurried to unfasten the ties around his chest and ankles. 

"Where are we?" Crow asked. 

Kiryu shrugged. "The morgue. Where else can I drop off dead bodies? Don't worry, I made sure no one was around. We can get out without being seen if we move fast. Carly had to leave your tanker at the parking garage, but she said she'd meet us at the fountain circle." 

"Great," said Crow, as he slid off his shelf, narrowly avoiding kicking Yusei, who was trying to do the same thing below him. "The most beautiful city in the world, and the first thing I get to see is the morgue." 

Fortunately, the morgue was not a particularly active place. In the old world, when people died, they might be buried whole, dressed in their best clothes and placed in elaborate caskets. There had once been whole tracts of land devoted to nothing but giving each of the departed their own private resting place, perhaps marked with a stone or a statue or even an entire mausoleum. This world had no place for that kind of wastefulness. When people died, they were quietly cremated and their ashes sent to deliver precious nutrients to the fragile farmland, and if a family wanted something to remember their loved ones by, they made do with personal belongings. Someone very important, like a mayor or a scientist, might get a plaque on a wall somewhere commemorating their achievements, but that was the limit of public memorials. Jack wasn't sure that he didn't prefer the old way. With no family to leave anything to, and very little to leave behind in any case, he wouldn't have minded a stone with his name on it somewhere to remind people that he'd been there in the first place. 

He shook himself free of such morbid thoughts as he gratefully left the cart behind. Recent experiences aside, he wasn't dead yet, and he had work to do. 

"Does anyone know how to get to the fountain circle?" asked Crow. 

"I do," said Jack. "Just follow me and pretend you're tourists." 

Technically, there were no fountains in fountain circle. Not even the most selfish and careless person was indulgent enough to own a machine that had no point but to spray precious water for no other reason than because it was pretty - never mind the energy it would take to keep such a machine going in the first place. These days, "fountain" had come to mean a type of planter built in some sort of decorative shape, from which vines and other trailing plants would spill. The traditional colors for these flowers were blue, white, and violet, but not everyone remembered these days that the colors were meant to mimic falling water. 

Chevalier's fountain circle, though, did contain a great many of these planters, full of flowers in every color of the rainbow, arranged so that viewing the circle as a whole created a pleasing aesthetic effect. The roads had been paved in mosaic tiles, and even the poles of street signs were crafted with curlicues and metal vines creeping up their sides. This was a city that had devoted itself to decorating things, and had only limited numbers of things to decorate. The detail was nearly overwhelming. Jack found Carly standing in front of the most ornate fountain, gawking shamelessly. 

"You didn't tell me it looked like this!" she said when she caught sight of him. 

"How was I supposed to explain it?" Jack replied. 

"You could have at least tried," she said. "Anyway, I'm glad you guys are okay. I was a little worried." 

"I've had more fun in my life," said Crow. "I'm glad I never wanted to be a courier if that's how you end up." 

"It wouldn't bother you if you were dead," Kiryu pointed out. 

Jack changed the subject. "The university is that building there with the green roof - the one with the statues of philosophers on the corners. Do you feel up to hunting down the professor?" 

"It looks big," said Carly. "Where am I supposed to look for him?" 

"Ask a secretary," said Jack, drawing on years of delivering things to important people. "Places like that always have secretaries." 

"Right," she said. She drew herself up, looking determined. "Here goes nothing." 

She headed for the front steps of the building. The others, having nothing else to do, settled down on the edge of the fountain to wait. Jack closed his eyes. The tension of the day had drained him; it was good to rest here, where it was cool and the air was scented by flowers and sweet-smelling herbs. He was nearly dozing by the time Carly came back. 

"Did you find him?" Yusei asked eagerly. 

"He wasn't there," said Carly. She brandished a paper. "I got his address, though. The lady said he lives close by." 

"Let's find him, then," said Crow, bouncing to his feet. 

"I wonder why he wasn't there," said Bruno. "Today's a weekday. Shouldn't he be teaching or something?" 

"I guess not," said Carly. "The secretary said he was taking a sabbatical." 

"Maybe he knows what's coming," said Yusei, looking grim. 

They found the professor's house, a modest narrow building, as decorated as the others but somewhat less well-kept. The carvings were crumbling, and the paint was flaking. The flowers looked as though someone had forgotten to water them for a few days, their leaves drooping and petals limp. Jack found himself wondering if the professor was really even there. 

Yusei rapped on the door. Almost instantly, it opened, but only an inch or two. 

"No visitors," said a female voice, and the door slammed shut. 

Jack pushed past Yusei and hammered on the door himself. 

"Go away," said the voice. "I said, _no visitors_." 

"We're not visitors," said Jack. "I'm a courier. My name is Jack Atlas. I have a message here. I was told to give it to Mayor Rutger Goodwin in Momentum, but I plan on giving it to Professor LeBlanc instead. Ask him if he wants it." 

There was a pause. Then the door opened, revealing a strikingly beautiful blonde woman wearing a courier's leather suit. 

"Inside. Fast," she said. 

No one wasted any time getting inside. The inside of the house was even more untidy than the outside. Papers, bits of machinery, and empty mugs were strewn on every flat surface. The young woman looked at the chaos with vague dismay, as though just realizing it was there. 

"Forgive the mess," she said. "We've been busy." 

She led them to a trapdoor in the floor, and then down a flight of stone steps into a brightly lit basement. The air smelled of machine oil and hummed with small motors. In the midst of it all, a distinguished-looking man with a dark beard and gold-rimmed glasses moved purposely through the mess. When he heard footsteps approaching, he looked up sharply. 

"Father, we have guests," she said. "I thought you might want to hear what they have to say." 

"Thank you," he replied. He turned to his visitors. "I apologize for my lack of hospitality, but my life has been somewhat hectic as of late. I'm Rene LeBlanc, and this is my daughter Sherry. And you?" 

"He _says_ he's Jack Atlas, the courier," Sherry supplied. 

The professor regarded Jack thoughtfully. 

"Well, he matches the descriptions," he said. "And who are these?" 

"Friends," said Jack tersely. He didn't see any reason to give his friends' life stories to a relative stranger. "We wanted to talk to you. About the Yliasters. And the spiritstorms." 

"Ahh," said LeBlanc. "I thought someone might. Well, sit down if you can find the room, and I'll see if I can facilitate some exchange of knowledge." 

"Facilitate exchange of knowledge?" Crow repeated. "You must be a real joy as a teacher." 

LeBlanc laughed softly. "My apologies. I'm more accustomed to academic lectures than casual conversation." He turned to his daughter. "Sherry, love, keep an eye on the door. This many people visiting at once may draw attention." 

"Are you sure?" she asked. She cast a glance over the assembled company. After sleeping on the road for days, none of them looked particularly reputable. Jack had to admit, he wouldn't have trusted them either. 

"I'll take a chance," said LeBlanc. 

Sherry gave Jack a final glare before sweeping off with a huff. 

"Pardon my daughter," said LeBlanc. "She's inclined to be protective. Perhaps you understand why." 

"I would be, too," said Yusei quietly, "if I were in your place." 

"Ah, yes," said LeBlanc, looking at him closely. "You're the living image of your father. You are Professor Fudo's son, aren't you?" 

"You knew him?" asked Yusei. 

"I was aware of him, though I can't say that I knew him well, more's the pity," LeBlanc replied. "He was a brilliant man. I wish I had learned more from him." 

Jack reached under his jacket and took out the much-abused letter, the one that had started him on this mad chase. He smoothed it out and passed it to LeBlanc. 

"What can you tell me about this?" he asked. 

LeBlanc took the paper and read it slowly. Jack watched the expressions flash across his face. This, he thought, was a man who hadn't wanted to believe his time was up. Had known it, yes, but hadn't wanted to believe it. 

"I'd like to believe this proves I can trust you," the professor said at last, handing the note back to Jack. "I'm just not sure what we can do to help each other." 

"Can you tell us more about these storms?" Yusei asked. "Even if it won't help anything, I want to know." 

LeBlanc smiled a little. "I should have known. Very well, I'll tell you. It will be some comfort for me, at least, to know that someone else knows what I know." 

He stood up and began pacing the floor. 

"The first thing you need to know is that the storms are man-made," he said. "Originally, they weren't created intentionally. They are a side effect of the machinery that provides power to the colonies." His expression was grave. "We could have focused our energies into preventing them, or lessening their intensity. Instead, humanity looked at them and saw them as a tool, as a weapon. I have been researching the mechanics behind the storms, but I believe now that this information has gone towards others learning how to manipulate the storms, to control when and where they appear." 

"What does make them work?" Carly asked. She looked impressed at being in the presence of someone who had contributed to her program. 

"I recognize your voice. You're the young lady from the radio," said LeBlanc. "I enjoyed your discussion of your work - I wish I had been able to tell you everything I knew on the subject. Now I'll tell you. The machinery that supplies our power is doing so by siphoning it out of another world." 

"Another world?" Crow repeated. "Like, another planet?" 

"Another reality entirely," said LeBlanc seriously. "The world the monsters come from. Did you think they came out of thin air?" 

"I always figured they were, I dunno, mutants or something," Crow admitted. 

"Let me show you," said LeBlanc. 

He turned on a computer and began opening programs. 

"Some time ago, I paid a courier to place capsules containing cameras at various points in the wilderness," he explained as he worked. "They were set to activate if something stirred them up, like a spiritstorm, and relay the video back to me. I wanted to see what happened during a storm." He brought up a window and stepped aside. "Most of them never activated, or didn’t give me any useful data. This is one of the few videos I was able to successfully record." 

He stood back so they could see the screen, which showed a blur of whirling dust. After a few seconds, the view cleared a bit, and Jack saw that the camera was circling the eye of the storm. As it rose, he saw the same strange sight he had seen before: a circle of green at the apex of the storm. He leaned forward, squinting at the blurry screen. The camera rose more slowly as it drew nearer to the green light, and for a few seconds, he thought it would run out of momentum and fall. Then, impossibly, it began picking up speed again. The dust cleared. The camera now seemed to be plummeting _downward_ , towards a carpet of what were, indisputably, trees. It tumbled dizzyingly, its balance upset by the change in gravity, and Jack caught a glimpse of distant mountains. Then he was looking at a clear blue sky with a few wispy white clouds floating through it. Then the camera dropped through the canopy. It bounced through branches and finally came to rest in a heap of fallen leaves. 

After a few seconds, someone walked up to the camera. He was definitely a person, but not one like Jack had ever seen before. He had a faintly violet tint to his skin, and his ears rose to graceful points. Even stranger, he had shimmering insect wings on his back. He nudged the camera with his toe and shouted something inaudible to someone out of sight. Then the camera cut out. 

The room was full of breathless silence. LeBlanc smiled thinly. 

"Provocative, wouldn't you say?" 

"Not the word I would have used," said Crow dryly. 

"I don't believe it," said Carly, shaking her head wonderingly. "A whole other world..." 

"I saw it," said Jack. "When I was caught in the storm. Just before the monster came, I looked up and saw the trees. I didn't know what they were, but I saw them. It's real." 

"Amazing," said Yusei. 

"I have other videos that confirm it," said LeBlanc, "but this is the only one that has people in it. I wanted you to have some idea of the scope of this matter. It doesn't only affect us, you see - it affects unknown numbers of other races and species." 

He turned the screen off again and switched to a different window. 

"This is what I theorize," he said. "This world has nearly used up our supply of readily available energy. While it's true that energy can neither be created or destroyed, it can be converted into states that we can't easily utilize. For years, humanity relied on fossil fuels to supply large amounts of energy. When those ran out, we went into a panic. We tried other things - wind, water, sunlight. Some of them worked quite well. We might have made great strides in that direction, but the someone invented something new: a machine that seemed to pull energy from nowhere. No fuel went in, but energy went out. It seemed to be a miracle." 

"And you're saying that energy came from this other world?" Bruno asked, interested. 

"Precisely," LeBlanc replied. "For a long time, there were no obvious results. From what little my cameras can tell, the other world doesn't appear to be heavily industrialized. They aren't using as much energy as rapidly as we were, so they may not have even noticed not having as much to draw on as they used to. Eventually, though, we reached a tipping point. That was when the storms began. To put it into very crude terms… imagine it as being two connected tanks, with the contents of one being drawn into the other. Originally, both of them are full, but the walls of the tanks have a bit of give - they bend a little. So one of them is slowly becoming pressurized, while a vacuum is being created in the other. The walls give and give, until eventually..." 

"They bounce back," said Carly, catching on. "That's what the storms are, right? They're balancing the - the pressure between the worlds." 

"Absolutely right," said LeBlanc. "As it happens, sometimes things get pulled back and forth between worlds. On our side, we lose anything that happens to be outside during a storm - like couriers, for example. On their side, it seems, they lose the occasional monster." 

"That explains why you always find them around storms," said Crow. "That's where they fall out." 

"Or," said Jack, thinking of the intelligence he'd seen in the dragon's eyes, "because they're looking for a way back home." 

"You're not the first to have that idea," said LeBlanc, nodding approvingly. "If there's time, I'll put you in touch with some people who are thinking more about monsters than I am." 

"I guess I can see why these guys want you dead," said Crow. "I mean, we kinda knew that there was something off about the storms and monsters and all, but you've got the proof." 

"I have theories," LeBlanc corrected. “Substantiated by evidence, of course, but still only a working hypothesis. There are still some details I don’t quite understand yet. But that isn’t why I’m a wanted man right now.” He walked over to a work bench and picked up an odd flat device, glossy blue on one side and trailing wires on the other. "Would you like to guess what this is?" 

"Save time and tell us," said Jack. 

LeBlanc bowed his head. "Forgive my pedagogical flourishes. This is a solar panel. It's made from various readily available metals and minerals, and from chemical compounds derived from plants. If we ended the storms, it would be completely safe to use these panels. They would provide safe and steady energy, and be comparatively easy to manufacture. And yet, when I suggested using them as an alternative, I was turned away. I believe, in fact, that this might be the reason why they truly want me dead - not for knowing what's wrong with our current system, but for presenting viable competition to it." 

"So what can we do?" Yusei asked. "That's what I want to know. How do we stop these people?" 

"I'm afraid I don't know," said LeBlanc. "I'm only a researcher. I find things out; I don't always know what do to with them once I've found them. I'd like to get the word out to as many people as possible, but... I worry for the safety of my daughter. Sherry is good at taking care of herself, but these people are beyond her abilities. I know if I go too far, they will come for her." He smiled bleakly. "It may be a bit late for worrying, though. Here." He reached for his computer and detached a small portable hard drive, which he passed to Yusei. "This is the distillation of my research - everything I know about the storms and the generators, the videos of the other world, the plans for the solar panels, including the processes I used to refine minerals and distil the chemicals I used... and a few other things besides. Look over everything. Make copies. Pass it on. It's the least I can do for you." 

Yusei looked stunned. "But sir, this is..." 

"In memory of your father," said LeBlanc. "Now, what I would suggest doing next is to head for the Arcadia colony. There are people there who might be in sympathy with your cause. You're going to have to be careful, though, because..." 

Footsteps raced down the stairs. Sherry came bursting into the room, her hair in disarray and a riding helmet in one hand. 

"Father, there's a storm," she said. "It started just now, directly over the city." 

The color drained from LeBlanc's face. "They wouldn't." 

"They have," said Sherry tersely. "Someone has been watching us." 

"Maybe it's just a coincidence?" Carly offered weakly. 

LeBlanc shook his head. "I doubt it. It's time to get out of here. Take the things I gave you and go. Head for the Arcadia colony. The mayor..." 

There was a boom overhead, loud enough to make everyone clap their hands to their ears, followed by a drawn-out rushing sound. 

"What was that?" Crow shouted over the noise. 

LeBlanc, still reeling from the impact, half-staggered across the room to turn on a screen. Confused black and white images flickered across it. He looked back at his guests, his face grim. 

"The colony shell has been breached," he said. 

He didn't say anything else. He didn't have to. Jack felt his insides go cold. This city was about to become a second Satellite, and there was nothing any of them could do about it. This city and most of the people in it were about to die. 

"We've got to get out. Now," he said. He was already starting towards the stairs, waving for his friends to follow him. 

LeBlanc nodded. He threw off his lab coat, revealing a courier's protective suit beneath it, and snatched up a helmet that had been half-buried beneath a pile of odds and ends. 

"Don't worry about me," he said. "We've been preparing. Just get yourselves to safety. When you get to Arcadia, find..." 

There was another crash. 

"The roof's caving in!" Sherry shouted. "We have to go now!" 

"The back door, hurry!" LeBlanc ordered. 

He ran, and the others followed. He led them through a side door in the basement, into a subterranean passage. It was dark, lit only by flickering lights that were already beginning to go out as the colony's power failed. They could still hear muffled cracks and thumps above them as they ran. 

At the end of the passage was a room with two cycles and a dirt ramp leading back up to the road. LeBlanc and his daughter pulled on their helmets, and Sherry wrestled open the lock, which was stiff with disuse. She wrenched it open and flung it away. Freed from their constraints, the doors flew open as soon as she pushed on them, caught up by the force of the wind. 

"Where are you going? Are you going to be all right?" Yusei called. His voice was nearly inaudible over the roar of the storm. 

"We have a safe house set up a few miles from here," said LeBlanc, "and you'll forgive me if I don't tell you exactly where. Good luck, and don't expect to ever hear from us again." 

The two of them revved their engines and raced off into the storm. 

"We need to get out of here, too," said Crow. 

"Our bikes are back at the morgue," said Jack. "Yusei, Bruno, Carly - get back to the battleship. The rest of us will catch up. If we don't, set a course for Arcadia." 

"Jack..." Carly protested, reaching for him. He shoved her away. 

"Get going!" he ordered. 

He raced out the door, trusting Crow and Kiryu to follow him. He heard Carly protesting and Yusei and Bruno trying to calm her down. He hoped she'd see reason. What he wasn't going to say now was that he felt she had a better chance of surviving if she rode the battleship, which had armor and supplies. But his cycle had supplies, too, and so did Crow's cycle and Kiryu's cart, supplies that they would need if all six of them were to make it to Arcadia alive. Someone had to go get the rest of their vehicles. Even more than that, his cycle was all he had left of his career as a courier. He wasn't prepared to leave it behind. 

The streets were full of people. They weren't going anywhere yet - they didn't know where to go. Their world was literally falling down around their ears, and there was no safety wherever they turned. The wind whipped up dust and stripped the plants of their leaves and blossoms. Jack watched as a piece of a roof was torn off by the wind and tumbled down to crush a statue below it, and then flinched as bits of debris pelted him. Above him, the lights on the ceiling of the dome had gone dark, save for a wide and rapidly spreading gap that was open to the sky. The darkness only added to the confusion. 

"Which way?" he shouted, hesitating at a crossroad. He could barely hear himself over the sound of the storm and the cries of the citizens. 

Kiryu may not have heard him, but he turned and beckoned before running down a side street, and Jack and Crow raced to follow him. The alley was narrower than the main streets, and had fewer people in it, as well as less open space for chunks of the roof to fall through. They stumbled and scrambled over smaller chunks of broken masonry, shielding their eyes against the wind. 

They reached the morgue and rushed inside. The building was a sturdy one, meant to contain the powerful ovens used for cremating the dead, and it hadn't yet been damaged badly by the storm. The men worked swiftly to unload their cycles from the back of Kiryu's cart. When they had finished, he swiftly unhitched the trailer, leaving the three-wheeled front cart free. Jack nodded approval; it still had its compartments for supplies, but it would go faster without the trailer. Without a word, the three of them mounted up and drove into the streets. 

The situation was deteriorating rapidly. Jack tried not to look at the bodies of those who had already fallen victim to the flying debris. Some of them were already clearly dead. Jack was used to those. He'd seen worse during his stint as a Death's Angel. What was harder to see were the ones who were simply injured, but who couldn't get away and who had no one to help them. They were probably going to die slowly, of blood loss or dehydration, and it would be a painful and lonely death, and he couldn't stop to do anything about it. 

_I'll get the ones who did this,_ he promised as he drove by, but it didn't feel like enough. 

Up above their heads, there was a resounding groan, and then a crack. A chunk of the roof thirty feet long was slowly breaking away from the rest of the ceiling. As if in slow motion, it sailed downwards onto the buildings below it, throwing up plumes of dust that were snatched up by the ever-strengthening wind. Jack flinched and tried to swerve as brick and glass flew into his path. 

"Guys, I don't think we're going to make it!" Crow shouted. 

Jack didn't say anything, but he privately was starting to agree. Taking the cycles through the streets would have been hard enough, but when the roads were clogged with panicking people or immobile bodies, or blocked by heaps of rubble. The three of them swerved, dodged, backtracked, and forced their way forward again. Jack's world narrowed to these things: the wind, the dust, the constant hail of debris, the noise in his ears, and a nightmare of bloody streets that never ended no matter how far he drove. 

There was another earshattering roar. Jack looked up, expecting to see another piece of the ceiling break away, and as he did so, he saw a light within the swirling dust and smoke. Smoke? That wasn't just a light, and that sound wasn't just cracking masonry... 

_The storm is a cover-up. This place was bombed. They had this prepared in advance. You were right, LeBlanc, they were watching you all along..._

He drove around a corner and skidded to a halt. The others, close behind him, swerved rapidly to avoid colliding with him. Across their path, a building had collapsed, blocking their exit. 

"Dead end," said Kiryu. "Which way now?" 

"I don't know," Jack admitted. He was only marginally familiar with the city's layout, and his senses were confused by the wreckage and his constant turning and backtracking. He was lost, and they were all cornered. 

While he was still reconciling himself to that grim reality, there was another crash. Another piece of the ceiling fell in, and Jack dove for what cover could be found behind some of the other rubble. The noise seemed go on for several minutes, and he braced himself, shut his eyes, and hoped for the best. 

But when he finally dared to look out again, he was sorry he had. The road was buried in brick and metal, and even their cycles were half-covered in rubble. There was no way out now, except on foot. 

_That's it,_ he thought numbly. _We're out of ways out. We'll never make it across the desert without wheels..._

This was ridiculous. They were going to die, and his friends were going to die, and he was never going to finish dealing with the people responsible for it all. That _rankled_. 

_Now would be a good time for another dragon to show up and save me,_ he thought, with grim humor. Something like that wasn't going to happen a second time. 

Something above him shrieked. He looked up, expecting to see his doom plummeting down on him in the form of another piece of the roof. Instead, a black dragon covered from end to end in staring eyes was swooping down on him. He gawked at it. A very small part of him was wondering how it kept the swirling dust out of all those eyes. Kiryu shouted and grabbed a chunk of brick, apparently thinking to throw it, but Jack grabbed his wrist. 

"No, I think this one is on our side," he said. 

The dragon dropped to the ground. It wouldn't have fit in the narrow street if some of the buildings hadn't already collapsed. As it was, it had plenty of room, even when a second dragon dropped down to join it, and then a flock of oversized birds. The dragons began busily digging their cycles out of the rubble. 

"What are they doing?" Crow asked. 

"Helping us, I think," said Jack. 

He took a few careful steps towards one of the dragons. He couldn't be sure, but he had the feeling it was the same red dragon that had rescued him before. How many red dragons could there be in the world? He picked his way across the rubble until he was standing directly in front of it. He put a hand out to touch its foreleg. Its scales were smooth as ceramic, and warm to the touch. 

"Can you get us out of here?" he asked. 

The dragon dipped its head, as though it had been waiting for him to ask. It seized Jack's cycle in one claw and Jack in the other, scooping him off the ground. He gave a cry of surprise as the ground dropped away beneath him, and kept dropping as the dragon leaned back on its haunches. The second dragon grabbed Crow and Kiryu in its claws, and the flock of birds gathered around the other two cycles and lifted them up with a great fluttering of wings. Then the dragons pumped their own wings, fighting to pull themselves aloft in the storm-tossed air, and Jack felt his stomach drop as he began rocketing skywards. Soon the colony was far below him, nearly obscured by the swirling dust. The dragon wobbled as it tried to keep itself steady in the turbulent air, and Jack closed his eyes and concentrated on keeping his stomach steady. 

They only flew a short distance, just far enough to escape the worst of the wind. Then the dragons came down with a bump, releasing their passengers to stagger onto the sand. The cycles were set down a bit more gently, as if the dragons understood that these machines couldn't look after themselves the way humans might. As soon as everything had been deposited securely on the ground, the dragons bowed their heads again, and the birds fluttered as one group in a large circle. Then they all flapped away again, disappearing into the dust of the storm. The three men stood silently, listening to the rush of the wind. 

"Well," said Crow at last, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was definitely the weirdest thing to ever happen to me." 

"Better hope it's the weirdest thing that's _going_ to ever happen to you," said Kiryu. He climbed onto his cart and checked to see if it would still start. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here." 

Jack nodded. "If we hurry, we can still catch up with the others." 

The others agreed, and they revved their engines and tore off over the sand in the direction of the Arcadia colony. As they drove off, Jack cast a final look over his shoulder. The storm was already dying down, the dust beginning to dissipate. He could see the outline of the colony's dome, no longer smooth, but crumpling in on itself, leaving long rents torn in its sides. In a few years, it would be another Satellite, a heap of rusting metal and crumbling stone, with few left alive who remembered it as it had been. Jack sighed and turned his back on what had once been the most beautiful city in the world. 

**To Be Continued…**


	6. Hospitality

They caught up to the others a few miles outside of Chevalier. Crow wanted to talk about what he'd seen, and loaded his cycle onto the back of the battleship so that he could have Yusei, Bruno, and Carly's undivided attention. Jack would have liked a chance to work through everything with an attentive listener, but he didn't want a discussion group, so he resigned himself to driving alongside and apart from them on his cycle. Kiryu seemed to feel the same way. They drove silently over the wasteland, alone in their thoughts. 

It took four more days to make it across the desert. It should have taken less time, but their machines had taken damage in their wild flight to escape the city, and the group had to take two days to wait for Yusei and Bruno to make repairs. Jack spent a lot of that time chatting with Carly or winning small fortunes off of the others with a deck of cards Crow had produced, until no one wanted to play poker with him anymore. By the time they all reached Arcadia, they were all tired, dirty, sunburned, and low on food and water rations. None of them were sorry to see the curve of the dome up ahead. 

"It's about time," said Crow. "I wouldn't even mind being arrested, as long as it got us inside!" 

"Don't say things like that! It might come true!" Carly protested. 

"We're not going to get arrested," said Jack, hoping it was true. "We're refugees from Chevalier. No one is going to turn us away as long as that's the story we're using." 

They approached the gate, and Carly fed her passcard into the reader. It hummed a bit, and the doors slid open without hesitation. Everyone hustled inside, a bit guiltily, as though afraid the doors might change their mind. Once they were all safely inside the airlock, the doors came down again. A moment later, a voice came in over an intercom. 

"State your business," it said briskly. 

"We're refugees," said Yusei. "We came from Chevalier. We were hoping we could at least rest and buy food here..." 

His voice trailed off hopefully. There was a long pause. 

"Identify yourselves," the voice said. 

"I'm Yusei Fudo," said Yusei. He looked around the room, apparently realizing how dangerous it was for all of them to give their right names. "This is Carly Nagisa, Crow Hogan, and, ah..." 

He didn't get any further than that. The inner door swung open, and a crew of uniformed armed guards marched in. 

"We've been waiting for you people," the leader said. "You're coming with us." 

* * *

Jack might have liked Arcadia better if he wasn't visiting it in the presence of armed guards. 

Where Chevalier had been a city of innumerable small details, Arcadia was a place of soft colors, clean lines, and elegant simplicity. They had no time here to waste on fripperies. That was because while Chevalier had dealt with the claustrophobia of living in a sealed-off dome by devoting itself to the arts, Arcadia had primarily devoted itself to making money. They dealt primarily in industry - much of the metal and stone used by the other colonies was mined and refined in Arcadia and its environs, and they also had a thriving glassmaking company. Jack's own cycle was Arcadia-made, and now that he was here, he could see how the city's pared-down aesthetic had influenced the machine's pale color and sleek shape. It was attractive to the eye, but there was something cold about the place, and Jack found himself thinking that if he'd been forced to make the choice, he would have preferred to live in Carly's cluttered soundhouse or the mismatched warrens of Satellite, rather than this clean, sterile city. 

The guards halted them outside the doors to a particularly large and unusually ornate building, one whose windows were built in pseudo-gothic arches rather than simple squares, and which even enjoyed a few decorative cornices and gables. The doors were double ones, painted slate-gray, with polished steel fittings, elegant but somehow forbidding. 

Then they burst open, and a man came sweeping down the stairs. He was older than Jack, but not very much so, probably in his early thirties, and dressed far too well to be a factory worker or even an office worker. Nobody who wore ruffled sleeves and frilly cravats that way could be doing anything serious. This, Jack guessed, had to be the mayor. 

"Ah, good, you're here," he said. "I've been expecting you." 

"You have?" asked Jack warily. He didn't trust people in fancy clothes as a general rule; they always wanted something from him, and at the same time thought they were better than him because he went out and dodged storms and monsters to deliver their mail, while they stayed home where it was safe. He felt the opposite way, for the same reasons. 

"Absolutely," the mayor replied. He waved the guards away. "Back to your stations. I'll take it from here." 

The guards marched off without a backwards glance. The mayor half-turned towards the doors, beckoning Jack and the others to follow him. 

"We can talk more comfortably inside," he said. "By the way, I'm the mayor of this colony. You can call me Divine." 

"Pleased to meet you," said Yusei, with more politeness than Jack would have used. "We're..." 

"I know all about you people," said Divine, "but we can talk more about that in private. Please, come in. You must be tired and hungry after your journey." 

Jack followed warily. The rest of the group seemed to feel the same way; they stayed close together, constantly looking around and glancing back over their shoulders. The inside of the house, at least, was more inviting than the outside - it actually had some color, in the form of cool green carpeting and softer green walls. A few still-life watercolor paintings and the occasional white marble statue livened up the otherwise plain décor. Divine led them to a larger room, a sort of foyer where several hallways intersected, and looked back at them with a smile. 

"Which way should I send you?" he asked. "Food or baths?" 

"How about information?" said Crow. "Why did you drag us out here? How do you know about us?" 

Divine's expression turned serious. "Ah, forgive me. I'm afraid I got carried away. The fact of the matter is, I try to keep tabs on what the Yliasters are doing, as best I can without being noticed myself. When my informants told me that a message between two of the organization's leaders had gone astray, I started looking more closely." He bowed his head. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make contact with you before you reached Chevalier." 

Jack frowned a little, but Bruno piped up, "But you can help us now?" 

"I'll do my best," Divine said. "My resources are limited, you understand. I don’t have the leisure to do anything that would attract the Yliasters' attention and bring the roof crashing down on my city's head. But I can give you a safe place to stay for a while, a few good meals, some supplies, and some good advice." 

"We'll take it," said Crow. 

"A bath would be nice," said Carly wistfully. 

Divine smiled, as though that was exactly what he’d been hoping she’d say. "I'll have someone show you to the guest rooms. You can clean yourselves up, and someone will be along with fresh clothes. Dinner should be on the table by the time you're finished." 

"More beautiful words were never spoken," said Crow, grinning. 

Divine summoned his staff and excused himself, and the group was content to let him go. Jack in particular was not sorry to see the back of him. Even if he meant well, his facile manner made Jack's teeth itch. 

There was nothing wrong with the man's hospitality, though. A servant showed Jack to what was plainly the best of the guest rooms, with windows on two sides, a bed that would have comfortably slept five, and its own private sitting room and bathroom - practically a house to itself. He ignored the amenities in favor of a bath. He wasn't sure he'd ever been so filthy in his life, and he felt entitled to a long hot soak. 

While he scrubbed the sweat and grime off his skin, he let his thoughts wander. He wondered why, if Divine was so concerned with the doings of the Yliasters, he was apparently more concerned with Jack and his friends than with helping the refugees. If he had sent anyone to their aid, Jack and the others would have seen them on their way to the city. It was possible that Divine felt avoiding the Yliasters' notice was more important than sending help to the ruined city, but Jack wasn't buying it. There was some other game going on here. 

_Why did LeBlanc tell us to come here? He doesn't seem like the kind to be taken in by a fraud, but I'll eat my delivery cycle if Divine isn’t up to something._

Still, the bath did him a world of good, and clean clothes improved his morale further. He still wasn't sure what he was getting himself into, but he at least felt better prepared to deal with it now. He rejoined the rest of his friends in the hallway and followed one of the servants down to the dining room. Jack noted that his friends had undergone subtle and not-so-subtle transformations as well. He wasn't sure what surprised him more: seeing the other men wearing clean suits, or seeing Carly in a dress. She would have looked better in it if she hadn't been so plainly ill-at-ease in it. 

When they arrived at the dining room, they found that the meal had already begun without them. It appeared to be an informal affair, and people were already helping themselves. There was a cluster of free seats left, apparently reserved for guests, so Jack and his companions sat down and began filling their plates. 

If he'd needed evidence that Arcadia was a wealthy city, Jack could have found it on that table. He never went hungry when he was staying inside the colonies he visited, and was regarded well enough that he usually ate better than most people did, but he'd never seen anything like this. It was _decorative_. The meat and the vegetables and fruits had been arranged artistically on trays. Some of them even had flowers scattered over and around them. The variety of different dishes baffled him. 

"What is this?" asked Crow, holding up a piece of something on his fork. "Is this _fish_?" 

Jack sampled it. "It's fish." He tried another bite, considering it more closely. " _Saltwater_ fish." 

"Wow," said Bruno. "Where are they getting this stuff?" 

Jack made a disapproving noise. In a world that was mainly desert, raising fish was not considered the most worthwhile pursuit - at any given moment, hundreds of gallons of precious water would be occupied in providing swimming room for fish. After the first couple of water shortages, anyone with sense would give up and find a less costly pursuit. Catching wild fish was worse. No one wanted to be caught on open water when a spiritstorm blew up or a monster came to call. If you wanted to show off your affluence, having fresh fish on your table was a good way to do it. 

"I'm pretty sure this one is beef," said Carly. "I got to try some, once, when one of the dairy cows died." 

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Crow remarked. 

He didn't say what it made him wonder, but he didn't have to. Jack was already wondering. Had this lavish spread been laid out to impress them, or was this sort of thing normal? And if it was normal, where were they getting it? Arcadia was miles from any ocean where they might get fresh fish, even if someone was brave enough or crazy enough to go out fishing for it, and cows just weren't raised for meat. If you had a cow, you kept it alive as long as possible so you could milk it, or had it stand at stud so it could make more cows. The only time you ate beef was if something died of natural causes or there was an overpopulation problem. Even then, space was at such a premium that it was uncommon for someone to raise cows at all. Most people stuck to raising smaller things like chickens or rabbits, with perhaps the occasional goat or pig thrown in. Someone had to be paying a fortune for this. 

Yusei took a sip of his drink and winced a little. "This is strong." 

"Too much for me," Carly agreed, pushing her glass away. 

"I've had worse," said Crow. "I gotta admit, though, it's pretty potent for table wine." 

"You don't think they're trying to..." Bruno began, and Yusei shushed him. 

"I think they're just more used to this than we are," he said. 

Jack felt a little better - not because of Yusei's reassurances, but because he'd been wondering, too. He couldn't help being a little paranoid, and a small part of his mind had been thinking that the lavish feast and strong wine had been meant as bait for a poison or drugs. It was irrational, of course - everyone else at the table was eating and drinking from the same dishes, and none of them were showing ill effects. It was only that he was on guard for _something_ , and the suspense was making him edgy. 

It was apparent, though, that no one else at the table found anything unusual about anything they were being offered. He allowed himself a moment to look around the room. It was full of well-groomed men and bejeweled women, talking and laughing with each other, looking perfectly at ease. Most of them were older than Jack and his friends – presumably the movers and shakers of the city, the factory owners and the heads of wealthy families. The only one who didn’t fit the pattern was a red-haired young woman who sat at Divine’s right hand. She was wearing the best jewels of them all, but she didn’t seem intent on showing them off. She ignored everyone around her, eating her lavish meal with the enthusiasm of a small child who knows she won’t be allowed to leave the table until her vegetables are all gone. No one paid much attention to her – she might as well have just been another flower arrangement. Jack wondered who she was and why she was there. It dawned on him briefly to wonder if it was her and not Divine they had come to find. She didn’t seem to belong here, but he didn’t feel safe in asking about her with so many people listening in. 

He turned back to his meal with diminished enthusiasm. The food was good, but too rich to want to eat much of after so many days of short rations. He pushed his plate away with his food half-eaten. 

"I'm going to bed," he said. 

He stood up and walked away. No one besides his friends seemed to notice. 

When he returned to his room, he found it had already been made ready for him: someone had put out all the lights but the one closest to his bed, and had turned down the blankets. A set of pajamas lay folded neatly at the foot of the bed. Normally he would have taken it as his due, but tonight, he could only think uneasily of people slipping in and out of his room without him noticing. He changed out of the clothes he had barely worn, pulled on the night clothes, and lay there in the semidark with his eyes open, staring up at the ceiling and letting his thoughts run in circles. His mind kept going back to the people of Chevalier, the ones who hadn't been quite dead yet, the ones he couldn't stop to save. He thought of what could have been done with the money that had been spent on the lavish meal that was still going on downstairs. 

After tossing and turning for far too long, he got up. He’d spent the last several days sleeping on the hard earth, and now the mattress felt like it was trying to swallow him. He'd gotten used to having Carly sleeping next to him, too. They'd had almost no time alone since the night they'd met, and the closest to privacy they could get was sleeping next to each other. She had generally ended up nestled against him with an arm draped over his chest and one leg flung over his. It had annoyed him at first, and he had thought he'd be glad to have a chance to sleep without her, but now he found himself missing the contact. It unsettled him to keep expecting someone who wasn’t there. 

_I'll go see what her room is like,_ he decided. Maybe they could talk through some of the things that were troubling him. She was better at working things through to logical conclusions than he was; he was more inclined to identify a problem and then rush at it with his metaphorical sword drawn. She might be able to calm him down enough that he could sleep. He got up, put on a robe, and slipped down the hallway. 

All of the guest rooms were on the same hallway, with Carly's being the furthest from his own. He knocked on the door and waited, hoping he had remembered correctly which room was hers. He didn't like the idea of explaining to Crow what he was doing knocking on his door after lights-out. Admitting who he’d really been looking for would open him up to a round of embarrassing comments he was too tired and stressed to deal with without hitting someone. 

The door opened a crack, and then the rest of the way. 

"Oh, it's just you," she said. "What are you doing out here?" 

"I wanted to see if your room was better than mine," he said. 

"Probably not," she said, "but come in anyway." 

She stepped aside so that he could enter the room. He saw immediately what she'd meant - the room was little more than a ten-by-ten cube, with a plain white bed, a dresser, and a lamp. 

"They put you in a closet," he said. 

She shrugged. "I guess they ran out of good rooms." 

"They should have spent less on dinner and more on building," said Jack. 

"It's weird, isn't it?" Carly asked. "Everyone kind of seemed to take it for granted. I could understand if it was a special occasion, but... something is funny here. These people are too... too... _complacent_." 

"It's a wealthy city," said Jack with a shrug. 

"I don't care. No matter how much money they have, the supplies for this kind of thing just aren't there. They don't _exist_. So where did they come from? How did they get it? And why doesn't anyone else have it?" 

"And why did Professor LeBlanc send us here, of all places?" asked Jack. "There's something weird going on here, and he sent us here for a reason. There has to be a connection somewhere." 

Carly frowned. She began to pace the floor, hands clasped behind her back. "Okay, let's get the facts straight. The storms are happening because we're pulling energy from the other worlds. Someone is controlling the storms to make them happen wherever they want them to, as a tool to keep people in line. Something is going on in this city connected to that. Arcadia is an industrial city, so they probably go through a lot of energy, so I'm guessing a lot of the storms are at least indirectly caused by them. The guy in charge here seems to know a lot about the Yliasters, and he says he's working against them, but he could be lying..." 

"You don't trust him either, do you?" asked Jack, giving her an approving look. 

She adjusted her glasses self-consciously. "Well, I live in a tower in the middle of nowhere, so maybe I'm not the best judge... I mean, he _seems_ nice. But it's like he's not interested, you know?" 

"You're right," said Jack, perking up a little. "That's what's bothering me. He's not interested in us at all." If his motivations had really been what he said they were, he would have been asking them for eyewitness accounts of what had happened at Chevalier, or what they had learned from LeBlanc. He should have been pressing Bruno for inside information. He could have at least asked to see the letter from Mayor Goodwin. Instead, he'd hustled them off to their rooms and thrown a dinner party. Divine was lying about something... lying, or trying to distract them, or both. 

"Where are the others sleeping?" he asked. 

"Huh?" said Carly. "Um... Yusei and Bruno are sharing a room, and Crow and Kiryu are sharing the other one. I think they gave me a room to myself because I'm the only woman." 

"I fail to see what that has to do with anything," Jack muttered. 

"Hm?" 

"Never mind," said Jack. "I just don't feel right being cut off from everyone else. We should both have someone watching our backs." 

"You could stay here, if you want," she offered. She smiled, as though guessing he had motives beyond the pragmatic. 

"You should stay in my room," he replied. "It's got a bigger bed." 

"Oh, well, I can't argue with that logic," she said. 

"We might as well make the most of it," said Jack. "I'll tell you one thing - tomorrow morning I'm thinking of some excuse and going to find somewhere else to stay." 

"I don't blame you," she agreed. 

She took his hand as they left the room. He wasn't sure he liked it, but he didn't try to stop her. 

He reached the door to his room, and then paused. He felt certain that he had pulled the door shut when he'd left, but now it was slightly ajar. Had some roving housekeeper decided it needed closing? He didn't think so. He held out an arm to stop Carly from walking any nearer, and held his other index finger to his lips. She got the message and nodded, standing behind him and watching over her shoulder for any danger from behind. Jack crept closer and reached for the door handle. 

The door sprung open. Jack dropped into a defensive position, wishing he had a weapon. The man in the door jumped backwards, colliding with his companion. Jack used that moment to lunge forward and seize the man in front by the collar. 

"Who are you? What are you doing in my room?" he demanded. 

The man clearly wasn't willing to give any answers. He twisted in Jack's grasp and swung a dagger at him. Jack shoved him away again, so that the knife passed two inches from his chest, and the attacker staggered backwards but quickly regained his footing. At the same time, the second man began forcing his way forwards, slipping out from behind his companion and into the hallway. Jack snarled. The hallway behind him was a dead end, with the only way out blocked by at least one armed man, and Jack was unarmed and wearing only pajamas and a bathrobe. Well, if that was the way it was going to be... 

The man in the hallway drew a long knife and held it at ready, while the man in the doorway shifted his grip on his dagger. 

"Settle down," said the one in the hall, who seemed to be in charge of the operation. "It'll hurt less if you don't fight it." 

"It'll hurt less if you get out of here while you still can," Jack retorted. 

The man with the knife tensed to lunge at him, but this time, Jack was ready. He whipped off the belt of his bathrobe and held it in front of him with both hands, using it to catch the man's wrist and snare it. He stepped back and made a quick twist and a jerk with the belt, pulling the man off-balance and making him drop his weapon. Jack kicked him away and stooped to snatch up the fallen knife. 

The second man started forwards before his comrade had even begun to fall, but with the knife in his hand, Jack was ready. He spun and drove the knife at his attacker. His aim wasn't good - instead of hitting the man's chest, the tip of the knife skated across his arm and lodged just below his shoulder. He grunted and dropped his weapon, clutching at his wounds with blood streaming from his fingers. Jack swung the fist he was holding the knife in and struck the blunt end against the man’s attacker, and it struck with a solid thunk against his temple. The man staggered against the wall and leaned there, dazed. 

The first man scrambled to right himself and to grab for the weapon his friend had dropped. Carly bounded forwards and stepped on his hand, and he howled in pain. Jack kicked the dagger and sent it spinning down the hall. 

"Now, let's try this again," said Jack. "Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" 

"Wha's goin' on?" The doors up and down the hall were opening, as people were drawn to the commotion, and Crow shuffled out of his room, yawning. One by one, the others joined him. 

"Jack, were you fighting?" asked Bruno. He stared at the two fallen men, the knives, and the blood on the floor with a look of incomprehension. 

Jack glared at him. "No, I was working on a dance routine. What does it look like I was doing?" 

"What's this all about?" asked Yusei. "Who are these people?" 

"That's what I'd like to know," Jack replied. "I found these two sneaking around in my room, and I don't think they were there to change the sheets." 

"Well, that explains a lot," said Kiryu. The man on the floor began trying to pull himself up, and Kiryu kicked him down again. 

"Like what?" Carly asked him. 

"Like why they were serving such strong drinks at dinner," said Kiryu. "That's what I would do if I planned to kill someone in their sleep. They probably figured that after a heavy meal and a few glasses of that wine, we'd all sleep like the dead. We'd never notice anyone sneaking into our rooms until it was too late." 

Crow gave him a deadpan look. "Why does it not surprise me that you think about these things?" 

Kiryu ignored him. "Doesn't speak well of them that they couldn't manage to kill anyone even with that advantage. What were you doing outside your room, Jack?" 

"Reconnaissance," said Jack tersely. 

"What _is_ all this racket?" called a voice. 

Jack tensed. He had a feeling that this was not someone coming to save the day. 

His suspicions were confirmed a split second later, when Divine arrived, gorgeously clad in purple silk pajamas and a matching bathrobe and slippers. He was rubbing his eyes as though he had just woken from a sleep, but Jack was not convinced. His hair was still too neat to have been slept on, and Jack was willing to wager that this little scuffle hadn't been loud enough to be heard wherever Divine had been sleeping. He'd also managed to obtain an armed guard on the way over, and Jack doubted that meant anything good. 

"These guys attacked us!" Carly exclaimed. 

"Really?" asked Divine, raising an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that when your friend is standing there holding a bloody knife? Do you take me for a fool?" 

"But... we were just defending ourselves!" said Carly. Jack felt sorry for her. She'd been on her own so long, she'd forgotten how people could lie to each other. 

Divine turned to the man who was still clutching his bloody shoulder, leaning dazedly against the wall. "Well? Is what these people say true?" 

"They jumped us!" the man said. "We were just walking down the hall, minding our own business, when this maniac came at us with a knife!" 

"He's lying!" Jack snapped. "These men were lying in wait for me inside my room. They attacked _me_. Why would they even be in this hall? There's nothing here they should be getting into." 

"Why they were here is irrelevant," said Divine smoothly. "My people have the right to walk wherever they choose within my halls. If someone wishes to take a late-night perambulation before bed, that's their business. But I can't have you fighting with people, especially not drawing blood. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you all into custody until we can sort this mess out. Gurads, take them away. All six of them." 

"What, all of us?" Bruno exclaimed. "That's not fair! We weren't even awake!" 

"Don't you get it?" Jack said. "We've been set up!" 

"Your theories are very interesting," said Divine tolerantly. "We'll be happy to listen if you have any proof - later, at your trial." 

Guards moved forward to seize Jack and his friends. He struggled, but it did no good - he was in good shape, but these men were built like walking boulders. He might have taken on one or two if they were on equal footing, but against eight of them armed and armored, it would have been suicidal even if the others had joined in to help him. When the men came to grab him, he shook off their hands. 

"I'll walk myself there," he said. 

The guards marched everyone down and down some more, forming a ring around the group and hemming them in, making it clear that escape was not going to be an option. Jack fantasized about wresting a sword from one of the men, carving out an opening, and making a run for it. He stayed put. 

Down they went, past what he would have guessed was the basement, and still further down. He caught brief glimpses of a pantry filled to overflowing with jars of preserved fruits and vegetables, bunches of herbs, and slabs of smoked and dried meat. Below that was a row of storerooms filled with assorted junk. Even further down was a boiler room to supply water and heat to the building above it. Then, for a long time, there was only stairs and flickering lights. No one spoke. Carly pressed against his side. She closed her hand around his, and this time he didn’t mind. Closed spaces did not make him happy. 

It was almost a relief when they finally reached the bottom floor. The hall opened up into a series of passageways. The guards turned without pausing and marched their captives down a hallway off to one side. It looked uncomfortably like a less lavish version of the guest rooms they had just left, but with fewer doors. 

"Separate rooms?" asked one of the guards. 

"No, just put them with the others," said Divine. He smiled at Jack and his friends. "You see, I'm not a cruel man. I'll let you all stay together and keep each other company." 

The lead guard unlocked a door. It was a solid-looking door, made of thick metal, with a hinged hatch near the bottom, through which meals might be pushed. As soon as it was open, the guard shoved Jack inside, and he hurriedly got out of the way before anyone could be shoved on top of him. He would not suffer an indignity like that on top of everything else. 

Instead, he inspected the room. The lights were out, but the light slanting in from the hall was enough to show him that there _were_ lights set into the ceiling. Much to his surprise, the room didn't even look terribly uncomfortable. There was a carpet laid over the floor, and a row of tidy beds along the back wall. There was even furniture, in the form of a circle of well-padded armchairs and a low table, and some shelves with books and boxes of what might be games. Jack tried pushing one of the chairs; it was bolted to the floor. 

_So this is a place to hold prisoners, but not to punish them. Hmm._

"I trust you all will be comfortable here," said Divine in his falsely pleasant voice, as the last of his captives was marched inside. "I'll speak to you more about this tomorrow. Or whenever I have the time. Goodnight, gentlemen, lady. Rest comfortably." 

The door closed with a resounding clang, leaving them in darkness. 

"Well, that went well," said Crow. "What do we do now?" 

"Sleep, I guess," said Bruno. "I mean, there's not much else we can do, is there?" 

"Kind of hard to plan an escape when we can't see what we're up against," said Kiryu pragmatically. 

Jack groped his way blindly across the room and stubbed his toe against the base of a bed. He swore, venting both his pain and his frustration with the situation in general. 

In response, there was a small sound. It was a voice, drowsy and unfamiliar. Jack froze. 

There was someone else in the room. 

To Be Continued…


	7. Doors

Jack froze, staring uselessly into the pitch darkness. Somewhere in the far corner of the room, someone was stirring. 

"What's all the noise?" said a voice, thick with sleep. 

"Mm?" said a second voice. "It's late. Go back to sleep." 

"But I heard something. People talking..." 

"You were dreaming," said the voice. It sounded like a child's voice. Both of them did - a boy and a girl. Jack relaxed a little. 

"Actually, he's right," he said. 

He was rewarded with a pair of yelps, and he felt vindictively pleased. If he was having a bad night, _everyone_ could have a bad night. 

"It's all right," said Yusei, spoiling his fun. "We won't hurt you." 

"See, I _told_ you someone was here," said the boy's voice. 

There was the sound of someone scrambling, pushing back blankets, and then the _pop_ of a light switch being flipped. The sudden illumination revealed that the bed furthest from the door was occupied by two children of about eleven or twelve years old. They looked like siblings, probably twins, with identical pale hair and matching dust-colored pajamas. 

"Who are you guys?" the boy asked. 

"I could ask you the same thing," said Jack. 

The boy scowled. "I asked you first." 

"Don't worry, we're not dangerous," said Yusei. "I'm Yusei, and these are my friends. That's Bruno, Crow, Kiryu, Carly, and that over there is Jack." 

The girl piped up, "I'm Ruka, and this is my brother Rua. Are you all monster callers too?" 

"That depends," said Crow. "What the heck's a monster caller?" 

Before anyone could answer, there was a chirruping noise. What Jack had taken for a toy animal began moving around under the blankets. A furry face blinked up at them all. 

"Kuri?" it said. 

"Whoa, a monster!" Carly exclaimed, leaning closer to get a better look at it. "Where did you come from?" 

"This is Kuribon," said Ruka. "She's my friend." 

"That's why we're monster callers," her brother elaborated, with a hint of pride. "We can talk to them, and sometimes they come when we call for them." 

"I don't think we're in here for anything like that," said Yusei. "I think we just got on the wrong side of the wrong people." 

The others nodded, but Jack thought of the dragon that kept coming to his aid, and the other creatures who had been following them, and wasn't sure. 

"You'd be better off as a monster caller," said Ruka, her gray eyes serious. "The ones that don't work out..." 

"What about them?" asked Yusei, when she showed no signs of continuing. 

"I don't know," she admitted. "They go away and don't come back." 

"Well, great," said Crow. "I'm sure going to sleep well with that on my mind." 

"Maybe it won't be so bad?" said Bruno, without much conviction. 

"Divine put us down here for some reason," said Jack. "He had to have set up that whole farce with the assassins. He's not going to just kill us after he went through all the trouble to get us down here. He wants us to do something for him." 

"The trouble is, we have no idea what," Kiryu finished. 

"The best thing to do is cooperate," said Rua. "He'll hurt you if you don't, but as long as you play along and do what he says, it's not... it's not as bad as it could be." 

Crow walked over and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. 

"Hey, it's okay," he said. "We'll help you guys get out of this." 

Ruka looked away. "You're not the only one who's said that. Thank you for saying it anyway, though." 

"We will make it out," said Jack. "If we've made it this far and nothing has killed us off, we'll make it out of here." 

"He's right," said Carly staunchly. "These are pretty tough guys, you'll see." 

Ruka gave a wan smile. "All right. You'd better sleep, though. Someone will probably come check on us soon. They'll yell if the lights are still on." 

"Well, we wouldn't want you to get into trouble," said Yusei. 

He picked out a vacant bed, and the others did the same. Jack settled down on his pillow, thinking that this bed wasn't nearly as unsettlingly soft as the one upstairs. That was probably the only good thing about this situation. Rua snapped the lights off again, and the room once more became pitch black. Even so, Jack didn't close his eyes. He lay awake, staring into the darkness, trying to untangle the threads of the mess he was in. He didn't even notice the transition when his eyes began sliding shut, and he fell asleep in the middle of his thoughts. 

* * *

The lights came on with a snap. Jack sat up with a jolt, disoriented, and looked around to see the others doing likewise - all but Rua and Ruka, who seemed used to the routine. 

"Don't worry," said Rua, scrambling out of bed. "It's just breakfast and stuff." 

He and his sister scrambled over to the door, crouching eagerly next to the hatch. Not knowing what else to do, Jack wandered over to get a closer look. 

The panel flipped open. Much to Jack's surprise, the same red haired young woman he had seen before was crouching on the other side. 

"Good morning, Aki!" said the twins. 

"Good morning," she answered. She gave them a smile that looked only slightly forced. "Are you getting along with your new guests?" 

"They're nice," Ruka assured her. The red haired woman - Aki - was passing trays of food through the slot. The twins collected theirs and carried them back to a table so that the others could have their share. 

Warily, Jack peered through the wicket so that he could look the woman in the eye. Her expression was solemn. 

"Good morning, Mr. Atlas," she said in a businesslike tone. "I have breakfast for you and your friends, and I was able to recover some of your personal belongings. I advise you to take your things and get out of the way quickly so the others can get their share." 

She leaned forwards, as though to better push the bundles she was carrying through the slot. As she did so, Jack heard her whisper, "I think you should know that the Goodwins know you're here." 

Jack felt a chill run down his spine. 

"Thank you," he said calmly, and collected his things. He retreated to the long table where the twins were eating their breakfasts and tossing bits of toast to the Kuribon. 

"Who is that woman?" he asked them as he sat down. He watched his friends taking their turns collecting their own food and belongings. While they were getting situated, he went through the rest of the things Aki had handed him. His clothes were there, and all the usual odds and ends he usually had in his pockets. The letter from Goodwin was still there too, wrapped up in his shirt. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. 

"Her? That's Aki," said Rua. "She's nice to us." 

"She's the mayor's fiancée," said Ruka knowledgeably. 

"Hm," Jack muttered, thinking of the previous night’s dinner. "She doesn't look enthused about the idea." 

"I don't think he's quite what she had in mind," said Ruka. 

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Do tell." 

"We don't know," said Rua. "It's just gossip and stuff. Sometimes the guards talk to each other, and we can hear them. They say her folks are really rich, though. She's from another city, see, and he went over there and courted her and got her parents to give him money, and then he came back over here again and now she's stuck with him." 

"He sounds like a real charmer," said Jack. 

"She's a monster caller, too," said Ruka. "She's _really_ strong. A lot more than us. We're not allowed to call for them unless she's there with us." 

"Hm," said Jack again. 

The rest of the group joined him, carrying their trays of food. It was actually decent food – not as elaborate as dinner had been, but at least as good as what Jack usually got when he stayed in a city, which didn't make Jack feel any better. Getting free meals as payment for services rendered was one thing; being treated like someone's pet was humiliating. To take his mind off of it, he filled his friends in on what he'd learned. 

"I don't like it," Bruno muttered. "I don't like knowing that they know we're here. We're sitting ducks." 

Yusei put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We'll get out somehow. There has to be a way." 

Rua shook his head. "You'd never make it. We're three floors underground, so you can't climb out a window or dig your way out or something. The door is always locked, unless there are guards around, and even if you got it open, there's no way out but up the stairs, and there’s a bunch of locked doors in the way." 

"We tried crawling out the food hatch a couple of times," Ruka admitted. 

"How did you guys end up down here, anyway?" asked Crow. "Don't your parents miss you? Do they even know you're here?" 

Ruka looked down. "We lost them." 

"You mean they're dead?" Carly blurted, and winced. 

"They're not dead!" said Rua firmly. "They're _not_. They just got lost in the storm, but they're not dead!" 

More quietly, Ruka said, "We were in a tanker caravan. Dad had gotten a better job in this city, so we were moving. We'd made friends with some kids in another tanker, so Mom said we could play with them during the day and then come back to their tanker when we stopped for the night. Only there was a storm, and the plating on their tanker broke..." 

"We went looking for them," said Rua, "after the storm. But all we found was Kuribon." He gestured at the fluffy creature his sister was holding. It blinked huge green eyes, looking almost apologetic for its role in the proceedings. 

"We didn't know what to do, so we just kept riding with our friends in the caravan," said Ruka. "Their parents brought us to the mayor, and he said he'd make sure we found a place to live. Then he put us here. We've been stuck working for him ever since." 

"I wouldn't leave anymore, anyway," said Rua with surprising firmness. 

"Why not?" asked Crow. "Don't you want to get out of here?" 

"Where would we go? We don't have any other family," said Ruka. "I don't even know where our friends are anymore. But Divine knows how to open doors to the place the monsters come from." 

Rua nodded. "And that's where our parents are, so we have to stay here until we can figure out how to get to them." 

"And if it turns out they _are_ dead?" Kiryu asked. 

A silence fell over the room. Crow gave Kiryu a dirty look. 

"You're just a little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" he asked. 

"Someone has to ask the difficult questions," said Kiryu evenly. 

"We'll keep trying until we know for sure," said Ruka, and Rua nodded. "After that, maybe we'll know enough about this place to escape." 

"I think we'll need to get out of here sooner than that," said Yusei. He sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't see any way to do it." 

"Something will come to us," said Carly firmly. 

There didn't seem to be much to say to that. The group broke up slowly, drifting off to wait their turn in the bathrooms so they could wash and change. A couple of them browsed the books on the shelves without much interest. Crow found a deck of playing cards and began building a house with them. Jack leaned against the wall and tried to think of a solution that would get them out of their current problems, but nothing would come to him but a sense of frustration and a desire to find someone responsible for this mess and pummel them into submission. 

After what felt like hours, there came a brisk rap at the door. 

"Everyone decent in there?" shouted a voice. "We're opening the door. No funny stuff. The security gate is down, so you're not going anywhere but where we tell you to, got it?" 

The door was shoved open. Out in the hall stood an assembly of armed guards. From where he stood, Jack could see that part of the hallway had been blocked off by a metal grating; there would be no getting back up the stairs that way. Jack asserted his independence by being the last one out of the room. He regretted his choice; being in the back made him a prime target for being poked by men with pointy weapons in their hands, who were itching for a chance to assert their authority. As he scrambled to get ahead, he noticed that both Divine and Aki were up ahead, leading the way. That piqued his interest enough to make him push his way to the front of the group. 

At the end of the hallway was a heavy metal door, locked with a number of locks. Divine made a show of undoing all of them with an assortment of different keys, and then waited as his captives were all shoved and prodded them all inside. Beyond the door was a vast room, also heavily lined with metal plating. The guards hustled their prisoners off to one corner of the room, while Divine walked to the other side and disappeared behind a doorway. A moment later, a flicker of light drew Jack's eyes upwards, where there seemed to be some sort of observation deck set into the wall. He could see Divine moving around up there, partly obscured by the thick tinted glass. Surprisingly, Aki stayed with the rest of the group. 

"Stand inside the painted lines, everyone," she said. 

Jack looked down to see that a rectangle was painted on the floor. He scooted a few inches backwards to fit more neatly inside it. There was still plenty of room for everyone. Once they were all in place, Aki gave a signal to one of the guards, and he flipped a switch on the wall. A metal cage slid down from the ceiling, locking Jack and his companions inside. 

"That will do," said Aki, as calmly as though she hadn't just been caged in. "You are dismissed." 

The guard gave her a brief nod, and all of them trooped out, shutting the door firmly behind them. Aki relaxed a little. 

"We have a few minutes while Divine sets up the machinery," she said. "If you have any questions, now is the time to ask." 

"Why are we here?" asked Crow. "What did we do to this guy to make him want to do this to us?" 

"He suspects that one or more of you is a monster caller," Aki replied. "We've had reports from our intelligence agents that there have been monsters following you all around. Divine is testing you now to see what you're capable of. If any of you are able to muster up any power for a doorway, then he'll try to find some way to keep you here. Anyone who doesn’t show any signs of ability will be turned over to the Yliasters." 

There was a pause. 

"Sounds like we'd better open a door," said Crow. 

Aki nodded. "I would advise trying." 

Divine's voice boomed out from a loudspeaker above them, "Brace yourselves! I'm starting the engines in five... four..." 

A mechanical whine rose from somewhere behind the steel walls. Jack felt the floor thrumming beneath his feet. A breeze sprang up from nowhere, whirling around the room and tugging at his hair and clothes. As the wind intensified, Jack felt another sensation as well, something that seemed to center somewhere deep inside him, as though someone had run a line from his backbone to his navel and was pulling on it. He gritted his teeth and pulled back, literally pushing away from the bars of his cage. Whatever it was pulled harder. It didn't quite hurt, but it was an unsettling feeling, as though gravity had fragmented and was pulling in multiple directions at once. He forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to loosen the weird tension in his gut, and concentrated on resisting the pull. It felt like something was being drained out of him, like electricity through a cable, and he didn't like it. He gathered up his willpower and _yanked_. 

The winds died down so suddenly it was like a physical blow, and Jack rocked backwards an inch or two, gripping the bars to steady himself. The tension that had been building inside him didn't vanish, but it abruptly relaxed to a bearable level. The others had similar reactions, and he heard a number of yelps and scuffles. He barely paid attention, though, because in front of him, the door had opened. 

It looked like the eye of a spiritstorm, but minus the storm. It was simply a perfect circle, resting more or less perpendicular to the floor, rippling slightly around the edges. Through it, Jack could see waves of grass, the distant darker green of trees, and a sky that was blue instead of yellow with dust. It filled him with a brief but potent longing. For a fleeting instant, it seemed unbearably unfair that this world was so beautiful and his was so grim. 

Somewhere out of sight came a clamor of voices. A few seconds later, a humanoid creature with purple skin and large tusks came lumbering through the door and into the room, carrying a heavy sack. It glanced around, looking nervously in all directions, before dumping the contents of the sack on the ground and hurrying back through the portal as fast as it could go. As soon as it was gone, a second creature, this one with fair skin and pointed ears, came in and did much the same. Over the next few minutes, a steady parade of creatures, some humanoid, some bestial, some unidentifiable, piled heaps of goods onto the floor. Most of it was food, but there were other things as well, crystals cut and uncut, jewelry and ornaments, bolts of fabric, strange devices, all of it piled in a jumble. 

Jack began to sweat. The tension in his insides was slowly increasing, and his muscles were trembling with the effort of holding whatever it was in check. He risked a glance towards Aki, who must surely have known what was going on, and was unsettled to see the tension in her eyes. She noticed him looking at her. 

"It doesn't usually go on this long," she said. 

"It better not go on much longer," said Crow, sounding breathless. "I think it's getting to be a little much for the kids." 

He gestured to Rua and Ruka, who were looking worse for wear. Their skins had taken on identical gray casts, and Ruka was leaning against her brother's shoulder. He was valiantly trying to support her, even though he didn't seem to be having much better luck staying on his feet. Their hair stuck to their faces and necks in damp straggles, and their clothes were dark with sweat. 

Aki pressed her lips together, with the look of a woman who disapproves and doesn't feel it's her place to say so. 

"It won't go on much longer," she said. "He won't let us get hurt." 

Jack didn't have that much faith in Divine, but apparently the man was too smart to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. After a few more seconds, his voice came over the intercom again. 

"That's fine! You've done enough," he said. 

The last of the monsters dropped what it was carrying, sack and all, and made a dive for the door. As soon as it had gone through, there was a brief thrum of mechanical things moving, and the portal snapped shut like a bubble bursting. This time, Jack did lose his footing, and he dropped to his knees. He panted for air, feeling like he had just pulled an all-nighter and then tried to run a footrace. All around him, he could hear his companions doing much the same, but he didn't bother to look at him. Tiny white spots whirled lazily before his eyes. 

"It's all right," he heard Aki say. "It's all over now." 

"You could have warned us," said Carly accusingly. "That _hurt_." 

"There was no time to explain," said Aki. She hesitated. "Listen. Pretend you're exhausted when you get back to your room. Sleep. I'll come visit after midnight. Divine will be asleep by then, and I can answer more of your questions." 

"I don't think I'll need to pretend," said Bruno. 

Divine descended from his vantage point and began strolling among the offerings left by the monsters. 

"Excellent work," he said. "I knew you would do a good job. Well done, all of you. You have all passed your trials with flying colors. I’m simply amazed." 

"What were you trying to do, kill us?" Kiryu demanded. 

Divine contrived to look scandalized. "Of course not! You are far too valuable to me to kill. You are honored guests in my household." 

"I thought last night we were criminals," said Crow sarcastically. "Guess I didn't hear that part right, huh?" 

Divine gestured at the heaps of food and treasure on the floor. "I would say you have repaid me for your crimes." 

"Great, then you can let us out," said Crow. 

"You haven't paid that much yet," Divine answered smoothly, "but ask again in a few months and I might consider it. But now I'm sure you all are ready for some rest. The first time opening a gate can be trying, I hear." 

He walked over to a panel on the wall and slid it open, revealing an intercom. A few words from him summoned the guards to escort everyone back to their cell. Jack found he didn't have the energy to care. Now that the excitement was over, the idea of a quiet place to lie down and not move for a few hours appealed to him more than he would have believed. He was beginning to feel a headache coming on. 

_At least now I know why the professor sent us this way. He must have had some idea this was going on,_ he thought. _Too bad he didn’t have time to explain a little more._

No one spoke as they returned to their room. As soon as they arrived, they shuffled off to their beds and collapsed into them without a word. Jack dropped into the mattress and closed his eyes, and was out before anyone could even turn out the lights. 

When he came around again hours later, the lights were still on. A few of the others were milling around, killing time. He sat up with a groan. 

"Well, look who decided to rejoin the living," said Crow cheerfully. 

"You okay, Jack?" asked Carly. She didn't sound cheerful; he imagined she must have been worrying. 

"I'm fine," he said. A new thought occurred to him, and he added, "I'm starving. Is there food?" 

"Help yourself," said Yusei, gesturing towards the table. Now that Jack was looking, he could see the remains of what looked like a hearty meal of some sort. There was still enough left to feed another half a dozen or so people, should Divine suddenly decide he needed a few more prisoners. Jack decided that he had better get up and make sure he got his share first, just in case. He climbed carefully out of bed and nearly fell back in. His knees wobbled beneath him. 

"Are you _sure_ he's okay?" Carly asked the room in general. 

"He's fine," said Rua, who was playing a board game with Crow. "Ruka was that way, too, the first couple of times. The more of the whatever-it-is you've got, the more that gets sucked out of you. I think that's how it works." 

"He'll feel better after he eats," said Ruka. 

"He had better," Carly muttered. 

Jack decided that the best thing he could do was to eat and regain his strength. While he filled his plate, Carly wandered over to keep him company. 

"I'm glad you're up," she said. "You were out for _hours_." 

"I was tired," he said. 

Carly leaned an elbow on the table and propped her chin in her hand. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. There really is another world in there." 

"You saw the professor's video," Jack pointed out. 

"Yeah, but that was just on a tiny little screen. I could fake something like that myself, with the right equipment. But this was _real_." She picked up a seed cake and began pulling it to pieces. "I wonder what he's going to do with all that food and stuff. He can't eat it all by himself." 

"Who knows?" said Jack. "Maybe he sells it. Maybe he hands it out as rewards. Or bribes." 

"It doesn't seem right," said Carly. "If he can do something like that, he should share it with everybody." 

"I don't think he's very fond of sharing," said Jack. "What I want to know is, why were those monsters giving him presents?" 

"They looked scared," Carly commented. "I guess he has something on them." 

"This whole situation makes my skin crawl," said Jack. "If we don't get out of here soon, I'm going to go crazy." 

"We'll get out," she said. "One of us will think of a way. Hey, maybe your dragon friend will come and knock down the walls for us." 

That almost made Jack smile. "I suppose it's possible." He stood up. "I'm going to take a bath. Maybe that will help clear my head." 

She gave him a sidelong look. "Need someone to help scrub your back?" 

He started to say no, he would just as soon take care of himself, thank you very much. Then he changed his mind. It might provide a momentary diversion, and he had a feeling that time was going to be moving very slowly for him in the days to come, and he would be grateful for all the distractions he could get. 

"Do as you like," he said, and walked off towards the bath. 

When they emerged sometime later, he was feeling somewhat more relaxed and refreshed. He was able to maintain his composure through the rest of the evening, and even unbent enough to play a board game with some of the others, on the grounds that there wasn't really anything else to do. Eventually, a guard came and announced lights-out, so they retreated to their beds to lie in the dark and wait. 

After his long sleep, Jack was feeling wide awake. He lay with his eyes closed, mulling over potential escape plans and wondering what Goodwin was planning on doing now that he knew where Jack was. Nothing that came to mind was very encouraging. He was relieved when he finally heard a tap on the door. 

Someone switched the lights back on, and then all of them hurried to gather around the wicket, where Aki was waiting for them. 

"I'm sorry I can't open the door," she said. "Only Divine and the guards have keys." 

"Why do you stick with that guy?" asked Crow. "I mean, anyone can tell he's scum, but you seem like you're decent enough." 

She lowered her eyes. "I can't leave. I have nowhere else to go." 

"How did it happen?" Yusei asked sympathetically. 

"I've always had this power - the ability to open doors," said Aki slowly. "They started small, but as I got older, they got more and more dangerous. My father almost got pulled into one, once. People started becoming afraid of me, even my own family. Then Divine came. He said he had a way of siphoning off my power and putting it to good use. I'd be helping people with it instead of hurting them. I was willing to work with him. He... he charmed me. He said that I was beautiful and clever, and I wanted to believe him. No one had ever treated me that way before. When he asked me to marry him and come live here in the city with him, my whole family was delighted, and I was overjoyed. And then..." 

"You found out he didn't want you, hm?" said Kiryu. 

She made a face. "No. He does want me. He doesn't love me, but he wants me. That's just it - he wants _everything_. No matter how much he gets, he still wants more. You saw him at the gate today. His larders are already overflowing, he's probably the wealthiest man alive, and he's still not happy. I don't think he'll ever be happy." There was genuine pity in her voice as she spoke. Even knowing Divine's nature, it seemed, she still had feelings for him. 

"What's with all that stuff anyway?" asked Carly. "Why were those monsters giving him things?" 

"It's complicated," said Aki. "He's got a deal worked out with the Yliasters. He pays them tribute in exchange for not causing storms over the areas that Divine owns. Divine developed a machine that channels the power of monster callers and allows him to open doors to the other world wherever he wants them. He opens doors that correspond with various points in our world - this city, the mines, our farming domes, all of that. He tells the monsters in those parts of the world that he's the one who brings the storms, and that if they pay tribute to him, he'll keep the storms away. Of course, he gets much more than he ever gives to the Yliasters, and they have no idea that he's doing this." 

"Sounds like a dangerous game to play," Crow muttered. 

"He can't go on forever," said Bruno. "The Yliasters aren't stupid. They have a lot of spies. Sooner or later, they're going to get suspicious." 

"That may have already happened," said Aki. "Goodwin had a courier on our doorstep almost before you all were imprisoned. He says he wants to be present at your trial. I don't think Divine will let you all go without a fight - you're too useful to him - but he will do it if Goodwin presses the matter hard enough." 

"Great," Jack muttered. "Either I get executed or I stay down here playing doorman forever." 

"The rest of us aren't in such great shape either," Crow drawled. 

"I don't know if there is anything I can do to help," said Aki, "but if there's anything... I know what he does is wrong. I help him anyway, by my own choice, but you never wanted to be here. Maybe I can make up for something by helping you." 

"We'll let you know if anything comes to us," said Yusei. "In the meantime, I don't know what else you can do beyond trying to convince Divine that we're more use alive than dead." 

"I'll do my best," she said seriously. "I'll visit again tomorrow night and let you know if anything else comes up." 

"We'll make sure at least one of us is awake, then," said Yusei. "Thank you for trying to help us." 

She smiled wanly. "Good luck." 

Aki disappeared up the hallway again, never looking back. 

"Well, that was encouraging, wasn't it?" said Kiryu to no one in particular. 

"We've really got to get out of here," said Carly. "I don't want to be executed!" 

"None of us are getting executed," said Yusei firmly. "We've just got to think of a way out. There must be some gap in the security here, if we just look for it. If Goodwin is traveling here, he'll have to come by tanker, and that means we've got a few days to work with. Maybe even a few weeks, if there isn't a caravan on the move. We can't lose hope yet." 

"What did you guys do?" asked Rua, sounding impressed. "And what's a Lillister?" 

"Yliaster," Bruno corrected automatically. "And they're bad news." 

"Can we help?" asked Ruka. 

"I don't know yet," said Yusei. "We'll let you know if we think of anything." 

"At least _someone_ is offering to help," Jack muttered. He didn't feel very confident about their odds if all they had going for them was two children and a browbeaten woman. 

_I'll just have to think of something myself._

To Be Continued…


	8. The Calm Before the Storm

Time passed. It passed in an endless round of maddening waiting, with nothing good to hope for at the end of it. Every evening, Divine escorted them down to the steel room to open doors for him, and then escorted them back when he was finished with them. Other than that, they had very little to occupy their time, and the boredom weighed heavily on all of them. It was possible that Divine had meant it when he said he wasn't cruel. Anything they wanted - food, books, games, spare blankets, new clothes, crafting materials - was theirs for the asking, so long as it wasn't deemed to be dangerous or something that they could use to contact the outside world. For two hours every day, the guards marched them into what resembled a small gymnasium, with some exercise equipment and a track for running on, so that they could have a chance to stretch their legs. Every day, Jack worked himself to exhaustion, hoping that it would make the enforced idleness that came afterwards easier to bear. There was very little conversation; everyone was tired of each other's company, but the idea of being separated was worse. Yusei, Bruno, and Carly were still holding up fairly well, being used to confinement, but the others were clearly nearing the end of their patience. Jack, who was accustomed to constant roving, felt as though he were being slowly stifled to death. If this went on much longer, he would snap and start throwing himself at the door and howling like an animal. 

He was thinking those sorts of gloomy thoughts while he watched the rest of the group going through the motions of their day. Carly had talked the guard into giving her some knitting needles and some chunky green yarn, and was enmeshed in making something lumpy that may have had aspirations towards being a sweater. Yusei and Bruno were huddled together on a sofa, alternating between reading and dozing. Crow, Rua, and Ruka were sitting on the floor together playing a board game, while Kiryu watched with an expression that said he was doing so because there was nothing else to look at. 

"I wonder what Professor LeBlanc and his daughter are doing now," said Yusei into the silence. 

"I dunno," said Crow. "Same thing we are, I guess - hiding underground. They said they had a safe house to duck into, right?" 

"Maybe they got sucked up by the storm," said Kiryu. 

"Don't say that," said Bruno. 

"Well, they might have," said Kiryu. "Maybe it's for the best. The Yliasters wouldn't be able to get them on the other side, right?" 

"Maybe they'll run into our parents," said Rua. "I'll bet they'd like to have some more human friends over there." 

"Maybe you're right," said Yusei reassuringly. "If the professor and his daughter made it to the other side, I bet that's where they are." 

At that moment, Kuribon caused a mild disturbance. She had been watching Carly's attempts at knitting (and the attendant muttered swearwords) with rapt fascination, and had gotten her tail tangled in the yarn. She let out a squeak and began to thrash, but only managed to entangle herself more thoroughly. 

"I've got you! Hold still!" Carly exclaimed. She attempted to grasp the creature, but it slipped through her hands. "How do you hold on to this thing? It's nothing but fur and eyes!" 

"I'll get her," said Ruka, scrambling to her feet. She managed to catch the little monster and calm her down. "There, there, it's all right. Come over here and sit with us for a while..." 

Kuribon responded by wiggling free of Ruka's arms and bouncing back onto the arm of Carly's chair, apparently undaunted by her misadventure. Carly sighed. 

"Well, at least we got her free," she said. 

"At least someone around here is getting free," Kiryu muttered. 

Jack felt a sudden stirring in the back of his mind. He stared very hard at the Kuribon, waiting for the thought to come clear. It was something about Kuribon, about getting free, and about Rua and Ruka's parents... 

He sat up with a jolt. "I have it!" 

Everyone looked at him. 

"Have what?" asked Crow. 

"I know how we're getting out of here," said Jack. 

"Well, tell us!" said Bruno. "I'm all ears." 

"We're going through the door," he said triumphantly. 

Rua looked at the door. "How are you going to get it unlocked?" 

"Not _that_ door," said Jack impatiently. " _The_ door. The one we have to keep opening every night. The one to the other world." 

"That's crazy!" said Crow. "We'll all be killed." 

"No, wait, I think he's on to something," said Yusei. "It's the only time we're left unguarded. Divine always goes up to his control room for a few minutes before the machines start, and there are no other guards watching us. If we could just get free of the cage, somehow..." 

"And it's the one place the Yliasters can't get to us," Bruno finished. 

Crow frowned. “But if we go there, we might not ever find a way to get out again.” 

“If we stay here, we’ll definitely never get out again,” said Kiryu. “If it’s a choice between the monsters and the Goodwins, I’ll take monsters.” 

“You’re probably right,” said Crow. “It’s just a weird thought, walking away from everything forever.” 

Jack shrugged. “Better than dying.” 

“If there’s a way in,” said Yusei, “there’s got to be a way out, too. The monsters get out all the time, after all. If there’s a way, we’ll find it sooner or later.” 

“Right,” said Bruno. “Let’s get out of here first, and then worry about the rest.” 

"How are you going to get the cage open?" Carly asked. 

Jack looked away. "I'm still thinking about that part. Maybe if we had some way to wedge the bars to keep them from going all the way down..." 

"No, don't worry about it," said Crow. "I think I have a better idea..." 

* * *

That afternoon, when the guards came to pick the group up and take them for their daily exercises, they found that Crow was wearing the lumpy green sweater Carly had been knitting. 

"What are you wearing that for?" one of the guards asked. "It's not cold down here." 

"I'm used to driving in the desert, in hundred degree heat, wearing motorcycle leathers," Crow answered, as though the guard were an idiot. "It feels pretty cool down here to me." 

The guard glared at him, but he couldn't seem to think of any reason why Crow couldn't wear an ugly sweater if he wanted to. He let the matter drop. 

"I think these guys are going stir-crazy," he muttered to his companion. 

Once they reached the gymnasium, the guards stared at the group a little more suspiciously than usual, but no one did anything out of the ordinary. Crow and Carly found a pair of long skipping ropes and invited Rua and Ruka to take turns jumping over them, while the rest of the group raced each other around the track or worked out on the exercise machines. It was all very peaceful. The only excitement was that at the end of their session, when they were supposed to put away their toys and line up to leave, Jack and Kiryu contrived to have an argument that turned into a scuffle, and Yusei and Bruno made matters worse by diving in and trying to separate them. The guards eventually had to intervene, shoving them roughly apart. Jack was cuffed on the side of the head hard enough to make him see stars, but he endured it without more than a token grumble. The important thing was that while he and the other men were roughhousing, Crow was busy winding up the skipping ropes and hiding them under his bulky sweater. By the time everyone had settled down, the ropes were out of sight, and everyone obediently fell into line and marched back to their room. 

That evening, they were once again taken to the metal chamber where the doors were summoned. Aki maintained her usual cool demeanor while she nudged everyone behind the lines. However, once Divine and the guards had gone off in their own directions, she said, "We've had word from Goodwin. He'll be here tomorrow morning. Things aren't looking good for you." 

"That's okay," said Crow. "We're busting out of here today." 

She gave him a shocked look, and then quickly composed herself, with a guilty glance towards Divine's control room. 

"You can come too, if you want," Ruka offered. 

"We're going to look for our parents!" Rua chimed in. 

"Oh, no, I..." said Aki, before realization flashed across her face. "You're going where?" 

"Prepare for opening," said Divine's voice over the loudspeaker. "Five... four... three..." 

There was a scramble of activity among the group. Crow swiftly fished the skipping ropes, now knotted together, from under his sweater. Ruka took them and looped one end around her wrist, then tied the other to Kuribon's foot. 

"Be careful out there," she whispered. She gave the creature a quick hug before shoving her at the grating. 

Kuribon seemed to know exactly what to do. The open spaces in the grating were no more than eight inches square. Even a child would not have been able to crawl through them, but Kuribon squeezed through them without difficulty and began bounding across the room. 

The wind began to pick up. Kuribon's fur streamed sideways in the breeze, but she continued hopping determinedly forwards. Jack felt the by-now-familiar tug at his insides that meant the door was beginning to open. The air in the room began to ripple. 

"What is that creature doing down there?" Divine shouted. "Get it out of the way!" 

No one did anything. Kuribon reached the other side of the room and made a jump at the control panel, but missed. The wind caught her in mid-jump and began pulling her through the air like a kite caught in a breeze. It gave a little squeak of fright, and Ruka began hauling on the rope to pull her back to earth. Kuribon touched down on the floor and gathered herself up to try again. 

"No! Get away from that!" Divine shouted, but there was nothing he could do. The gate was nearly open now, and he couldn't risk leaving the safety of his control room to go after the troublemaking monster. 

Kuribon made a second jump, and this time, she managed to hit the button. The grating began to rise, and Ruka hastily reeled in the jump rope, hauling Kuribon back into her arms. She settled there with a happy chirp. In that same instant, the door snapped open. 

"Everyone in! Go!" Jack snapped. Rua and Ruka dived eagerly through the door, with Yusei and Bruno hot on their heels. Crow and Kiryu followed next. Jack grabbed Carly's hand and began dragging her towards the opening. As he ran, he glanced back at Aki. 

"Are you coming or not?" he demanded. 

She hesitated. Her eyes turned longingly towards the portal, and then just as longingly up at Divine's control room. 

"I... I don't..." she began. 

"Fine, then, stay here and deal with it," said Jack, and turned to begin running again. 

"Wait, I'm coming!" Aki shouted. He heard her footsteps ringing on the metal floor behind him. He felt a brief flare of satisfaction that she was taking the reasonable course. Then he had no more time to think about it, because he was passing through the portal, and he stumbled as gravity shifted direction a tiny bit. Carly's hand was nearly pulled from his, and he gripped so hard it must have hurt her, but she followed him without complaint. A moment later, a rustling sound alerted him to the arrival of Aki. Then there was an almost inaudible _whuff_ , and he turned around to see that the portal was gone. 

They were standing in the grass of another world. 

* * *

"Is everybody all right?" asked Yusei. 

The others began pulling themselves together. Several of them had stumbled on the way through, and were now brushing grass off their clothing. 

"Fine, I think," said Crow. "Man, that was weird." 

"At least we're all together," said Carly hopefully. 

Jack looked around, taking stock. She was right that they didn't seem to have lost anyone. Aki was still looking somewhat shell-shocked, staring at the place where the portal had been as if hoping it would reopen and let her turn back, and the twins looked nearly as stunned, but at least no one had been dropped alone in some other corner of the wilderness. 

They seemed to be standing at the top of a small rise in a hilly landscape - the edge of a valley surrounded by rolling mountains. This area was covered in soft green grass, but that only extended a short distance before it gave way to scrub and trees. The sky was dazzling blue, so bright that it hurt his eyes a little to look at it too long. Jack wished for sunglasses. 

"Where do we go now?" Kiryu asked. He raised an eyebrow in a sarcastic manner that suggested he doubted anyone had a better idea than he did. 

"Away," said Bruno firmly. "We don't know that he won't have some way of opening that door again and hauling us all back." 

"No," said Aki, shaking her head. "He doesn't have a way. He used our strength to open the door, and with us gone..." 

"Great, one problem solved," said Crow. "Now all we have to deal with is figuring out what to do now that we're in an alien world full of monsters, with no shelter or supplies. Piece of cake." 

"Your sarcasm isn't helping anything," said Jack. 

An argument might have broken out at that point, had something not come along to distract them. "Something" was the appropriate word: it was a humanoid, about four feet tall but solidly built, with green skin and yellow tusks. It was wearing heavy leather boots and a shaggy fur tunic, and it carried a lumpy sack over one shoulder. In the other hand, it carried a crossbow. There was blood on the sack. It looked fresh. 

"Gwah!" Rua shouted, as he caught sight of it. "What the heck is that?" 

The creature had seen them, too. It stopped in its tracks and gabbled something in a peculiar grunting tongue that seemed to consist mainly of G's and N's. 

"Uh, sorry," said Crow. "We, uh, we don't speak..." 

"He says not to be afraid," said Ruka. "He says he isn't going to hurt us." 

"How do you know that?" her brother asked accusingly. 

"I don't know. I just do," she answered. 

"If he's not going to hurt us, what's that all about?" asked Kiryu, waving to indicate the bow and the sack. 

The creature gabbled at them and Ruka translated, "He says it's his dinner. He was out hunting for... I'm sorry, I don't know that word... he was hunting animals to eat. He wasn't looking for us." 

"So what's he going to do with us now that he's found us?" asked Carly. "Do you think he could maybe help us out a little?" 

The creature turned his head to listen to her, and jabbered something in reply. 

"He says he knows someone who speaks our language," Ruka said, "and if we follow him, he'll take us there. He says he was going that way anyway so it's no trouble. He's really very polite." 

"Wait," said Bruno, "he understands what we're saying?" 

The creature nodded. It grunted some more, making exaggerated motions with its jaws and sticking out its tongue. A few people backed away in alarm, but Ruka giggled. 

"He says he understands us just fine, but his throat and tongue and things aren't shaped right for talking like we do. He could try, but we still wouldn't understand him. Also, he says his name is Guggul." She smiled at him. "Hi, Guggul. My name's Ruka." 

"Rugguh," Guggul repeated. 

She giggled again. "See what I mean?" 

"Well, thanks, Guggul," said Yusei. "We certainly can use all the help we can get." 

Guggul nodded eagerly and hurried a few yards away, gesturing for them to follow. The others looked at each other and shrugged, but apparently no one could think of any better ideas. They followed. 

The scenery they covered was as different from the world Jack knew as he could imagine. As long as he had lived, all he had known was pavement, sand, rocks, and the occasional brief glimpse into a farming colony. Even there, plants grew in tidy patches and neat rows. Here, the plants were wild, and they were _everywhere_. The grass was a pleasantly soft cushion beneath his feet, and it gave off an herbal scent as they walked through it. Then they reached the tree line, and Jack looked around with interest as they passed beneath its shadows. He had never actually seen a forest, except in pictures. It was beautiful, in its way, but he couldn't help finding it a little eerie, too. A green light filtered down through the leaves, but there was very little undergrowth, leaving nothing to break up the scenery but the endless ranks of tree trunks. It gave a sense of great openness, but also of infinite places for something to hide. He felt more unprotected than he ever had out in the desert. 

Eventually, though, the trees thinned again, and they came to the edge of what was indisputably a farm. It was full of rows of drab-looking plants, which despite their unprepossessing appearance were being lovingly tended by dozens of farmers. Some of them looked even less human than Guggul, and some of them... in fact, Jack realized, most of them... actually _were_ human. None of them seemed to find anything peculiar about the newcomers, but a few of them apparently recognized Guggul and waved to him as he went by. 

Beyond the fields was a town. It wasn't much more than two intersecting roads with some sort of village square in the middle; there was a well there, and what looked like a bonfire pit. Most of the buildings were little more than wooden huts with thatched roofs, though they looked well-tended and even comfortable. Some of them had clotheslines full of clothes flapping in the wind; some had been ornamented with brightly colored cloth banners or had flowers planted around the doors. Children played in the streets while mothers chatted with each other and kept watch over their broods. A smell of something roasting hung in the air, unfamiliar but tantalizing. Jack relaxed a fraction. This place might be strange, but there was nothing menacing about it. 

On either side of the village square were two buildings that were larger and more ornate than the others. One had a sharply peaked roof with a bell tower on top - possibly some sort of shrine. The other was simply a particularly grand house, if only in comparison to the others, with two stories and double doors in front. Guggul marched confidently up to it and battered on the door with a fist. 

The door was opened by a tall man. He was dressed in simple clothing of what looked like undyed linen, but he wore a circlet of intricately carved wood on his head and a medallion on a leather strap around his neck, both of which suggested that he was probably the one in charge here. He was humanoid in appearance, but his skin had a silvery cast to it, like pale wood by moonlight, and his hair was pure gold. The tips of his ears rose to points. Beside him was a woman whose ears were equally pointed, but her skin had a bluish tint, and her hair was the color of the ocean. She had feathery wings, which were also blue. 

"Ah, hello, Guggul," said the man. "I see you've found some new refugees for us. Thank you for bringing them here. Tell the people at the brewhouse that I said you could have a mug of teyva on me." 

Guggul nodded, clearly pleased at the prospect of teyva, whatever that was. He hurried off with his sack thumping against his back. The pale man turned to survey his guests. 

"Welcome to our village," he said. "My name is Rill. I am the headman here. This is my wife, Merina." 

"Hi," said Crow. "Sorry to drop in on you like this, but..." 

Rill waved the apology away. "No need to say anything. This is a village of refugees. Something like three quarters of the people living here are human. When the storm takes them anywhere in this area, our friends bring them here." 

"The others here are volunteers," Merina elaborated. "We come here to teach your kind what you need to know to survive in this world." 

"So there are others here?" asked Rua eagerly. "Do you think my mom and dad are here?" 

"I can't make any promises," said Rill. "But if they're here, they'll be either in the teyva fields or in the roasting houses. Anyone will be able to tell you where to look." 

"Come on, Ruka, let's go!" Rua shouted. He grabbed his hand and raced off in the direction of the farms. 

"What about you all?" asked Rill, turning to the rest of the group. "How did you find your way here? I hadn't heard that there had been any storms today." 

"We didn't come from a storm," said Crow. 

Rill and Merina exchanged worried looks. 

"How did you get here, then, if we may ask?" said Merina. 

"Through the door," said Aki softly. "The one people keep bringing things to our world through." 

Rill frowned. "They sent you through?" 

"No," said Jack. "We escaped." 

"They were keeping us prisoner," Carly elaborated, "and they forced us to hold doors open for them, so we jumped through the door and got out." 

"So who will be opening the doors now?" asked Merina. There was a note of caution in her voice. 

Kiryu shrugged. "No one, as far as we know." 

"Yeah, you won't have to worry about that guy asking for stuff from you anymore," said Crow. 

A look of worry passed between Merina and Rill, and was quickly suppressed. 

"It wasn't only us he made demands upon," said Rill gravely. "Our village grows mainly teyva, which did not seem to have much interest in. We tried to offer it to him once, but he turned it away." 

"It's not native to our world," said Yusei. "He would have been in trouble if anyone realized he was taking things from another world." 

"I see," said Rill, in a tone that suggested that he didn't, but was prepared to take their word for it. "As it stands, I do not blame you for wanting to escape if you were being held against your will. This town is meant as refuge for all who are lost in this world, regardless of how they arrived here. As long as you are willing to contribute to the community, you are welcome to stay here as long as you need to." 

"What counts as contributing?" asked Crow. 

"That depends on what you're good at," said Merina. "You can worry about that later. For now, you should be getting settled in. We have empty houses at the edge of town for newcomers, but they don't have anything in them yet. I'm sure we can find something for you, though... That is, if you're really planning on staying." 

From somewhere just out of sight, a shriek of delight rose up. Someone - two someones, in fact \- was shouting "Mama! Papa!" 

"I think we're staying," said Jack. 

* * *

Night was falling over the fields. One by one, the laborers set aside their tools and began loading the last few bushels of vegetables onto their carts. Jack stood up and stretched slowly, aching from being bent over his work for so long, and tossed his gloves into the basket of weeds next to him. He hefted the basket onto his shoulder and joined the line of other workers on the way to the compost heap. Stars were already coming out above the ridge of the mountains, and he looked at them rather than the earth as he walked. 

He was surprised at how well he and his companions had settled into life in the village. It turned out that most of the residents were couriers like himself - men and women who had been caught out by the storms and pulled into this world, and had decided to end their wandering in this peaceful place. Some of them had even married locals, and didn't seem to mind that their children had wings or fur or blue skin. A lot of them even knew him, by reputation if not in person. They welcomed him as one of their own. 

The others, too, were settling into their own niches. The twins, of course, spent most of their time glued to their parents, but they also went with the other local children to the village schoolhouse and had already made friends among their peers. Carly was taking lessons, too. Jack wasn't sure exactly what she was supposed to be learning, but when she wasn't doing various chores, she was at the temple talking to a gaggle of fairies who had taken her under their collective wings. Whatever they were telling her, she seemed to find it absolutely fascinating. Whenever she mentioned her teachers, it was with an air of reverence. 

Yusei and Bruno, meanwhile, had made themselves valued members of the community by proving they had a sound knowledge of all things mechanical. The village itself was an odd blend of simplicity and technology, as though futuristic time travelers had come back in time, left a few machines as gifts, and then vanished without telling anyone how any of it worked. There was a generator at the far side of town, powered by a waterfall and some turbines, that supplied enough electricity for a few houses to have electric lights or even computers. These had been traded for from other, more advanced cities, and not many people understood how to maintain them. The arrival of two men who could not only make repairs but make improvements was heralded as a veritable godsend. When they weren't working on the generator or various other mechanical things, the two of them commandeered a computer and began the laborious process of working through all of LeBlanc's research. That part was all above Jack's head, but he gathered that there were some gaps in the great man's figures that were bothering them, and they were wracking their brains trying to figure it out. 

But most of life in the village revolved around the teyva plants. They were labor intensive, requiring a constant round of pruning, weeding, harvesting, and re-seeding. Once that was done, the roots of the plant were carried to the roasting houses, where they were peeled, sliced, roasted, and finally ground into a fine powder. Every able-bodied person in the village was expected to contribute to the work in some way. That was how Jack, Crow, and Kiryu, having no other particular skills to contribute, were put on full-time field work. 

Jack found he didn't really mind. After days of being incarcerated in a small room, having something to do all day that actually needed doing was a pleasure. He was learning to enjoy the feel of the sunlight and the wind on his skin, and the scent of the earth as he tended the plants. Given enough time, wanderlust might have eventually taken hold of him, but for now, he was content to be doing what he was doing. For the first time in his life, he was a part of a community, valued for his service if not his personality, accepted as one of the group. He was getting used to it. 

He lugged his basket of weeds to the compost pile at the far side of the village, located well downwind of the housing. After he'd emptied the basket, he began carrying it back to the shed. As he did, he was intercepted by Carly, who was carrying two mugs of something that steamed. He perked up immediately and hurried over to join her. 

"Tell me that is what I think it is," he said. 

She smiled. "The fruits of your labors. I figure you've probably earned it by now." 

He took the mug and drank gratefully. The whole reason why teyva plants were tolerated was because the powder made from their roots, when whisked into hot water, created a rich, creamy drink that tasted somewhere between coffee and dark chocolate - a little bitter, a little sweet, and utterly soul-satisfying. The locals claimed that it was highly nutritious, and a cure for everything from insomnia to indigestion to impotency. Jack had yet to test any of these theories, but he wasn't about to deny that the stuff was delicious. 

"Did you do anything useful today while I was out sweating in the fields?" he asked, as he fell in step alongside her. 

"Oh, you know, the usual," she said. "Did some laundry, did some cooking, helped out at the roasting house a little, hung out at the temple." 

"How come you don't have to work in the fields?" Jack asked. "You came from a farm colony. You should know how." 

"I know how," she said. "But the fairies say it's more important for me to be learning from them. I can work in fields after I've finished what I'm doing with them." 

"So what _are_ you doing?" he asked. 

"Learning," she said. "They're teaching me things about this world. The history, the geography, mythology..." 

"That's important?" Jack asked. 

"It seems pretty important to me," said Carly. "They say if I had been born in this village, they would have brought me up to be a bard." 

"A bard?" he repeated, eyebrow raised. "Aren't they supposed to be musical?" 

She blushed a little. "Some of them are. They said they would have taught me to play an instrument or something, if I'd come here young enough, but that's not the really important part. The important part is knowing the stories and carrying the news to people, and then staying wherever you are long enough to learn what they know so you can take it to someplace else." 

"It sounds a lot like what you were doing before," said Jack. 

"It is," she agreed, "but I'd get to move around more." 

"Planning on going somewhere?" he asked. 

"Are you kidding? I barely know what's over the next hill," she said. "Maybe someday we'll both go. You know you aren't going to be happy here digging for roots all your life." 

"It's not so bad," said Jack. 

They were walking towards the village square. In the evenings, a lot of the villagers would gather around the bonfire pit. Jack had heard that on festival nights, they would have real bonfires there, but on ordinary nights like this, the flames were kept to a moderate size. Instead, sometime around midday, someone would hang a large cauldron over the fire and fill it with water, so that by evening it would be simmering nicely. They would add a few scoops of teyva powder to the brew just as the sun was setting, so that the tired workers could gather around and fill their mugs with a freshly brewed drink. Then they would sit around the fire, telling stories, singing songs, and generally having a good time. Some nights Jack would join them, if he happened to be feeling sociable. Tonight, though, felt like a night to be quiet. When he started veering off the main path and towards the woods, she didn't argue. Instead, she slipped her hand into his and let him guide her into the shadows. 

"You really don't like having a lot of people around, do you?" she asked. "I thought it might just be that you were tired of having to go everywhere with the rest of us, but you really just like being alone." 

"I'm used to it," he said. "Anyway, I like some people some of the time. I just don't want to deal with them all at once." 

She laughed. "Are you telling me to go away?" 

"Of course not. I brought you, didn't I?" 

"You might have just been being nice." 

"I'm never nice," he said, and she laughed again. 

"You are. You just don't want to admit it," she said. 

He decided to change the subject. 

"How is Aki doing? I hardly ever see her," he said. 

Carly frowned a little. "She's doing better. She's been under that Divine guy's thumb so long, she hardly knows how to think for herself anymore. The priestess is working with her, but it's slow." 

"Aren't they teaching her magic or something in there?" he asked dubiously. He had always believed, like any right-thinking person, that magic was either wishful thinking or a form of trickery, depending on who was doing the talking. The fact that people around here not only took it for granted as being real, but used it on a regular basis, was something he wasn't yet comfortable thinking about. 

"They're teaching her that, too," said Carly. "Like I said, it's slow going. She still feels guilty about running off and leaving Divine in the lurch. I don't know why. He deserves it. But she feels like she should have done something more to help him, and it's blocking her from getting anything else done." She considered. "Sometimes I can get her to tell me about what she's learned, though. I don't think she minds so much if she thinks she's learning it for someone else." 

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning on learning magic, too?" 

"Well, it's interesting," she said, a bit sheepishly. "I don't really have the knack for it, though. But one of the fairies says she can teach me to tell fortunes. Wouldn't that be something, to be able to find things out before they happen? I'd be the best newscaster in the world if I could do that." 

"Are you thinking about going back, then?" he asked. 

"Well, yeah," she answered, a bit defensively. "Don't you think about going home?" 

"I never had a home," said Jack. "I stayed longer in Divine's stupid dungeon than I've stayed in any of the colonies since the day I became a courier. This place feels as much like home as anyplace back there." 

Carly gave him a dubious look. "You wouldn't really stay here." 

"Why not?" he asked. 

She stopped to fold her arms and glare at him. "Don't play that with me, Jack Atlas. I know you better. You'd never be happy as a farmer. You'd get bored and wander off somewhere." 

Jack grimaced but didn't contradict her. There were moments when he told himself he _was_ happy here. This was a good place. There was something satisfying about doing honest labor in the fields and then enjoying the fruits of those labors. He liked the camaraderie of the village, the way so many different types of people were able to live together and get along despite their differences, and the way they'd unquestioningly accepted him as one of their own. From time to time, he'd catch himself fantasizing about staying here, marrying Carly, and watching his children grow up alongside the people with fur or feathers or blue skin. Wouldn't it be better here, where there was no famine or want, and no colony walls or clouds of dust to blot out the sky? 

Rill had told him that most of the couriers who had landed here over the years hadn't stayed. They lingered for a few days or weeks or even a year or two, and then they packed up their things and went. His kind wasn't meant to stand still. 

"So I'll go somewhere," he said. "That doesn't mean I want to go back there. The minute I show my face in our own world, I'm a dead man. I can never go back to my old job again. There's no future left for me there. Besides, how am I supposed to get back? You don't see one of Divine's fancy machines around here, do you?" 

Carly frowned at him for a moment. Then she sighed. 

"I guess you're right," she said. "It just feels like... like giving up, you know? It's like letting the bad guys win." 

"What were we ever going to do to them?" Jack muttered. "Walk up to them and ask them nicely to stop? It's better this way." 

"I guess," she said again. "Still..." 

She didn't finish the sentence, and he didn't try to make her. He didn't really want to know. There wasn't any way to go back, so there was no use worrying about it. 

He sighed quietly. He didn't like giving up. 

**To Be Continued...**


	9. The Storm

The storm came a few days later. The sky had been overcast all morning, and the farm laborers had been working as fast as they could to get as much done as possible, in case the skies decided to open up. When the first drops of rain began to fall, they all gathered up their tools and began hurrying back to the village to wait for the weather to dry out. Jack felt mildly miffed by this; he felt that he could work just as well in the rain as he could under clear skies, but the way the other farmers glanced uneasily at each other as they hurried to get to shelter made him uncomfortable. He didn't bother to run all the way to his house on the other side of town, but instead ducked into the temple, where at least he'd have company while he waited out the storm. Most of his friends were there, too: Carly, Aki, and the twins had all been there for their various lessons, and Crow and Kiryu had followed Jack's example. After a few minutes of waiting around and peering out the windows at the rain, Jack saw Yusei and Bruno hurrying their way as well. He opened the door and let them inside. 

"What were you guys doing out there?" he asked. 

"We were working on the generator," Bruno explained, wringing water out of his jacket. "Some junk went over the falls and got stuck in the turbines, and they got bent all out of shape." 

"Someone told us it was about to storm, and we should get inside, so we came here," said Yusei. "I'm not sure why. We would have gotten soaking wet under that waterfall even if it hadn't been raining." 

"It's not going to be one of _those_ storms, is it?" asked Rua worriedly. 

"Don't see how it could be," said Crow. "I mean, look at this place. If they had storms like ours, would they be able to do all this with the farms and the trees and everything? They'd need walls like ours to keep them safe." 

Aki frowned. "Something must happen, though. Otherwise, Divine wouldn't have been able to threaten them into paying him." 

"It's just a storm," said Jack firmly. "Don't get carried away." 

The other villagers, however, didn't seem to share his sentiments. Several of the locals were huddled in the corners of the temple. Some of them were praying, and all of them looked frightened. The priests and priestesses moved among them, offering words of reassurance. 

Eventually, the thunder became audible. Every time it roared, the people in the temple whimpered in response. Jack felt his nervousness growing, no matter how many times he told himself that it was only weather. He stood by the window to watch the storm pass. None of the locals seemed to want to look. 

The lightning startled him. It shot down from the sky with an earsplitting crack and an answering boom of thunder, and struck one of the houses across the way. He had never seen lightning like it. The few times he'd been unfortunate enough to be caught out in a thunderstorm, the lightning he'd seen had been bluish-white. This lightning was an unsettling pink color that reminded him of uncooked meat. Light shouldn't be that color. Another bolt struck the manor across the square, and Jack turned away, feeling faintly nauseated. 

The storm ended as abruptly as it came. The thunder diminished, and the rain slacked off. Slowly, people began walking back outside, as though surprised to find that the rest of the world was still there. Jack followed them, looking around warily for the source of their fear. 

Faintly but audibly, he could hear the sounds of people crying, and a childish wail of "Mama! Mama!" 

"Hey, what's going on here?" Crow asked one of the priestesses. "What was all that? What's everyone so upset about?" 

The priestess, a dark-haired woman with three eyes and bat's wings, turned away. 

"I think you should ask the village chief about this," she said softly. "If he is still... at home." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Crow asked. "Where else would he be? Why should we ask him if you know the answer?" 

"Quiet down, Crow," said Yusei. "If she doesn't want to tell us, we can't make her. Let's go talk to Rill." 

They trooped across the muddy square, and Jack walked up to Rill's door and pounded on it. When no one answered, he let himself in, and the others hesitantly followed. 

They found Rill in his living room, sitting on a chair and staring blankly into the fireplace. When he heard them come in, he raised his head, and expressions flashed across his face that went from hope to disappointment to murderous fury, and finally chilled into resigned grief. Jack felt a chill and tried to ignore it. 

"The priestess said we should talk to you," said Yusei quietly. 

Rill sighed. "Yes. Yes, I suppose we should talk. Please, sit down." He sounded very tired. 

Everyone sat. Rill stood, pacing slowly up and down the length of the room. 

"I understand," he said at last, "that there are storms in your world. You call them 'spiritstorms', perhaps because you once believed the beings that emerged from them were spirits. I understand that these storms do such great damage that your world is nearly unlivable, and that you have to wall yourselves into protected colonies in order to survive. 

"We don't have these kinds of storms in our world. Our world remains lush and fruitful; our peoples thrive here. What we do have are called the Reaping Storms. When they pass through, the lightning strikes, and wherever the bolts touch, someone quietly vanishes, as though they had never been there. They are taken to your world, just as you have been taken to ours. Sometimes, they find their way back. Most of the time, they are never seen again." He looked up, his expression haunted. "Your world is not a hospitable one, and your people would not give our kind succor, as we have assisted you." 

"That's why you looked so worried, when we first showed up," said Bruno slowly. "You were paying Divine to keep the storms away from you, but when we got here, you knew they'd be back." 

Rill sighed. "Perhaps it was wrong of us to attempt to avoid the burden that everyone else in this world must bear. I don't know. I would do it again, if I could. If I knew how to use you as the man you call Divine used you, to open a gate and buy our safety, I would do it." 

There was a moment of uneasy silence. 

"Rill," said Ruka softly, "where is Merina?" 

Rill didn't answer. The look on his face was all the answer anyone needed. 

Jack got to his feet so suddenly that it pushed his chair open. The sound was shocking in the still room. 

"Jack, where are you..." Yusei began. 

"I'm leaving," said Jack. "Don't follow me." 

"Jack..." Carly called after him, but he didn't listen. He didn't want to hear anything else, not from anyone. 

He stormed out of the manor and down the street in a blind fury. He wanted to hit something, to rip up trees and tear apart the sky. All around him, he could hear the cries of parents who had lost children, children who had lost parents, friends who had lost friends and lovers who had lost lovers. 

_I could have done something about this._

The thought burned in his mind. He had been wasting his time here. As soon as he'd gotten out of Divine's grasp, he should have started looking for a way to get back to his own world and finish what he started. Instead, he'd allowed himself to be lulled into a false state of security. He'd told himself that he was safe and happy here, that he and his friends were better off here, that there was no real need to go back. He'd told himself that there was nothing he could do. 

_I never even tried._

He was beyond the borders of the village now, walking towards the hills. He passed a tree and struck at it, hard enough to take the skin off the back of his fingers. It hurt, but not enough. Blood dripped from his hand. He ignored it. He walked faster and faster until he was running. He wished he had his cycle, but it was long gone, like so many things he was probably never going to see again. His parents. Satellite. Chevalier. His old life. The Yliasters had taken so much all ready, and it seemed like they would go on taking everything he got close to. This was no random act of nature. This storm had been conjured on purpose, to punish Divine for letting Jack and the rest of them escape, and nobody back home cared that Rill and everyone else in the village was suffering because of it. They wouldn't have cared even if they had known. 

_Carly was right when she said I should be thinking of going back. I was a fool not to listen to her._

But what should he have done? He had no idea what to do anymore, and no idea where he could go where his mistakes wouldn't catch up to him. He couldn't face what was pursuing him, and he couldn't get away. 

Standing at the top of a tall hill, Jack threw his head back and screamed in frustration. It echoed off the sides of the mountains and through the blank gray sky. 

His voice broke, and he lowered his head again, and closed his eyes. They burned. He wasn't sure if crying would make him feel better or worse, but trying not to do it gave him something to fight with. 

A few seconds later, he heard a distant roar. At first he thought it was only an echo of his own outburst, or perhaps a distant scrap of leftover thunder, but then it came a second time, louder than the first. Something was coming towards him. 

Jack opened his eyes. A dark speck was hurtling across the sky, wings pumping, scales flashing red even in the sunless sky. It moved at a comet's pace, until it was so close that he could almost pick out its individual scales. It swooped over him, stirring his hair and clothing with the wind from its wings, then turned and flapped back towards him at a slower pace, pumping its wings to slow itself. It dropped out of the sky to land on the hill in front of him. Jack reached out a hand to touch its snout, and it snorted and nudged at his fingers like a friendly dog. Its breath was warm and smelled of cinnamon and burnt paper. 

"Dragon," said Jack, as if in a dream, "you found me. You came through the storm looking for me, didn't you?" 

The dragon whuffed warm air at him again. 

"What about the rest of your friends? Are they here, too?" 

The dragon made a rumbling noise, a bit like the trill a cat would make, if a cat grew to a hundred times its usual size. 

"Well, can you find them for me?" 

The dragon gave another reassuring snort. 

"Then get them," said Jack. "Get as many as you can, because we're going to need all the help we can get." 

The dragon pumped its wings, with enough force that it made Jack stagger backwards a few paces. Then it was airborne again, and sailing confidently off beyond the mountains. Jack watched it go. Then he turned and ran back towards the village. 

He found his companions hanging around the bonfire pit, looking shell-shocked. 

"Jack, are you okay?" asked Carly hesitantly. "When you ran off, you looked... upset." 

"I'm not okay," said Jack, "and I'm not going to be okay until the people responsible for this have been dealt with once and for all." 

"I hate to tell you this, Jack," said Bruno gently, "but they're over there and we're over here. There isn't anything we can do." 

"There is, and I'm going to do it," said Jack. "The storms are portals back and forth between the two worlds. I'm going to find one and go back." 

"You can't do that!" said Rua. "You'll get yourself killed or something. Anyway, how are you going to catch a storm? They don't stand still like the doors do." 

"I'm going to have help," said Jack. "There's a dragon that keeps following me around. It's already been back and forth between the storms at least once - it knows the way. I'm going to ask it to carry me through." He folded his arms across his chest and did his best impression of a man whose mind will not be changed. "Don't try to talk me out of it, either, because I'm not going to listen." 

"I'm not going to try to talk you out of it," said Carly. "But if you’re going, I'm going to try to talk you into letting me come with you." 

His expression softened. "You don't have to come. You know it's going to be dangerous." 

"I know," she said. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you run off and leave me here to maybe never see you again. If something happens to you, I want to be there to know about it." 

"If you're going, I'm going too," said Yusei. "For my father's sake, and Professor LeBlanc's." 

Bruno nodded. "And I'm going where he's going." 

"Count me in," said Crow. "It's not that I don't like it here, but I miss my kids back in Satellite. I'm ready to go home." 

That was more support than Jack had expected. He looked thoughtfully at the rest of the group. 

"Anyone else?" he asked. "I won't blame you for not coming if you don't want to." 

"I'm up for it," said Kiryu lazily. "If only to haul off your stupid carcasses if you get yourselves killed." 

Jack smiled a little. "Thanks for your support." 

Rua and Ruka looked at each other. They both nodded. 

"We'll help," they said in unison. 

"Are you sure?" Crow asked. "I mean, you just got back together with your folks, and now you're asking to leave again?" 

"I know," said Rua, "but we'd never even know for sure they were alive if it weren't for you guys." 

Ruka nodded. "We trust you. You'll get us back safely when it's all done." 

Jack privately wasn't so sure about this, but he let it slide. 

"Right," he said. "Then we'll leave as soon as the dragons get here." 

"Wait," said Aki. "I'm coming too." 

"What brought that on?" Crow asked. "You planning to go back to your old boyfriend? Because if that's what it is..." 

She shook her head. "No. I'm not going back to him ever. But you're going to need my help. They're right, Jack - the storms are dangerous to pass through. I can help keep the passage stable. I've learned a lot from the priests and priestesses here. I think I can do it. You're going to need me." 

Jack considered what she was saying, and decided she was serious. He nodded. 

"Better hope they bring enough dragons, then." 

There were enough dragons. Within a few minutes, the red and black dragon returned, with a number of his friends in tow. Jack recognized the white on and the one with all the eyes, but some of the others were new. There was one covered in what appeared to be gigantic rose petals, and a green one with wings like a butterfly's, one that seemed to be made entirely of metal, and one that looked like nothing so much as a cross between a crow and a centipede. They all crammed themselves into the town square with a lot of shuffling and folding of wings. There was barely room for all of them. 

"Good job, dragon," said Jack. He reached up towards the red dragon's head and patted it on the snout. It twisted its head so that he could slip his hand through its neck plates to give it a good scratching, and Jack obliged it. 

"The Red Daemon's Dragon," said Ruka. 

Jack looked at her. "What?" 

"That's his name," she said. "I know it's weird, but that's what he said. It sounds better in dragon-language." 

"Nice to know," said Jack, not without sarcasm. "So who are the rest of these, then?" 

"That's the Stardust Dragon, the Hundred-Eyes Dragon, the Black Rose Dragon, the Ancient Fairy Dragon, the Black Feather Dragon, and that over there is the Power Tool Dragon," said Ruka. 

"Sheesh," said Crow. "What's wrong with, yanno, Fred or Bill or something?" 

"I don't care what they call themselves," said Jack. "I'm just ready to get out of here." 

"We should pack some food," said Bruno. "And some supplies and things." 

Kiryu gave him a look. "And your computer things, right?" 

"Not all of them," said Bruno. "That would be too heavy. Just the _important_ things." 

"Fine," said Jack. "Pack some things and _then_ let's go." 

They didn't waste any time. There wasn't very much they had that they could pack. They threw some food and water bottles into their bags, folded some spare clothes and picked up some sturdy knives they could use as weapons in a pinch. Bruno and Yusei collected the professor's drive and the notes they had taken on it. At the last minute, Rill appeared, carrying a wooden canister of teyva powder. 

"For the road," he said, "and for good luck, and perhaps to remember us by." 

"Thanks," said Yusei, stuffing it into his bag. 

"We'll be back," said Jack. "And we'll find your wife." 

Rill's smile was wan. "I appreciate the sentiment." 

There wasn't very much room left in the town square for a dragon to stretch out, but the Red Daemon's Dragon did what he could, pressing his belly to the ground and stretching his neck down the street. Jack clambered onto its back and pulled Carly up behind him. The perch was more comfortable than he would have expected. The dragon's spinal plates were almost saddle-shaped. If he closed his eyes, he could almost have believed that he was sitting on his old cycle, except that cycles didn't breathe. 

Then the dragon went up. That first flight had been terrifying, with the wind of the storm whipping around him and the sounds of the colony collapsing below him. This flight was exhilarating. The dragon surged into the air, swooping in easy spirals around the village as it waited for the others to join him. One by one, the others rose up into the sky, so that the village was almost entirely overshadowed by dragon wings. 

"Which way?" Jack called. 

Aki pointed. "The storm went that way, but I don't know if we can go fast enough to catch it. We might have to..." 

The Red Daemon's Dragon roared. Jack grinned in spite of himself. This dragon, at least, had no doubt of its ability to catch anything. It flapped its wings with a sound like thunder, and carried its riders forward in a wild burst of speed. 

Jack's cycle had been a good one, one of the best available. On flat terrain, he would have bet on it against any other machine on earth. But smooth, flat terrain wasn't an easy thing to come by in a world of shifting sands, sudden rock slides, and erratic earthquakes. Even so, he had thought that most of the time, he and his cycle could go fairly fast together. 

He was wrong. His cycle didn't go fast. A _dragon_ went fast. The air rushing past him was like a hurricane, and his eyes watered from it. He was forced to bend forward until he was plastered along the dragon's neck, to avoid being dragged off by air resistance. The earth whizzed away beneath him so fast that it looked like little more than a blur of green. 

It was the most fun thing he'd ever done. If the stakes hadn't been so high, he would have whooped for joy. 

_Dragon, if you and I get through this alive, we've got some good times ahead of us._

The dragon roared. He wondered if it knew what he was thinking. 

All too soon, Jack began to catch glimpses of lightning on the horizon. He thought he could see a place where the clouds were thicker and darker, moving in lazy swirls. Pressed as he was against the dragon's back, Jack could feel the tension in the great beast's muscles. 

"Steady," he said, and the sound of his voice was snatched away by the wind. 

They slackened their pace as they sailed towards the edges of the storm. The Black Rose Dragon eased towards the front, perhaps to give Aki room to work. 

"I'm going to need your help," she called. "It will be like before." 

Jack waved, acknowledging that he'd heard her. The others did the same. She nodded, and he saw her shoulders rise and fall as though she'd taken a deep breath. 

He felt it long before he could see it. It was very much like the first time he'd helped to open a gate. That time, it had been like someone had latched a hook into him and was drawing something out by force. This time, he was participating voluntarily, and he threw everything he had into it. He heard his dragon roar, and had just enough energy to wonder if it was doing something as well. 

The quality of the storm changed. The clouds seemed to be changing color, turning faintly brownish around the edges. Lightning jumped sideways from cloud to cloud instead of striking the earth. Jack's skin prickled from the electricity. The air was becoming hot and difficult to breathe. 

"Hold on!" Aki shouted. "It's going to open!" 

There was a snap of lightning loud enough to make Jack's ears hurt, and he gritted his teeth and fought the urge to clap his hands over his ears. The dragon lurched sideways, wings pumping wildly as it fought to keep an even keel. Squinting against the wind, Jack looked up to see that the center of the storm had become dark... but not completely dark. If he looked closely enough, he could make out the ripples of sandy earth and the occasional jutting rock. He'd never seen it from quite that angle before, but he knew it was home. 

"Let's go!" he shouted, and urged his dragon forward. They surged through the opening, surrounded by the whirring wings of the other dragons. His vision was blocked by them for a few seconds. Then the world turned upside-down. 

Suddenly the Red Daemon's Dragon was diving straight towards the ground at an alarming rate. Jack gave a shout of surprise, and Carly clung to him so tightly it hurt. The dragon's wings swung out to pull them into a dive, and Jack's stomach gave a lurch as they shifted direction. Then the dive straightened out, and they were sailing smoothly over the empty desert. Looking down at it gave Jack a peculiar feeling. Part of him was glad to be back on familiar, if dangerous, turf. The other part was thinking that the air tasted cleaner in the other world. 

"Is everyone in one piece?" Bruno called. 

There were various affirmative replies. The others sounded slightly shaken by their trip (and the resulting drop) but everyone was accounted for and unharmed. 

"So, where do we go from here?" asked Kiryu. "Any bright ideas, or should we just fly around in circles for a while?" 

"We need to find a familiar landmark," said Yusei. "Flying in circles might not be such a bad idea. Let's make a big circle and see if we can spot something." 

The Stardust Dragon bellowed agreement and tipped its wings slightly, changing its flight path to a gradual curve, and the other dragons followed its lead. For a few minutes, they rode in silence, eyes peeled for anything that resembled a landmark. 

It was Crow who first spoke up. 

"Hey, isn't that Bat Rock?" he asked. 

Jack squinted in the direction his friend was pointing. On the horizon, he could see four uneven peaks of rock - one tall one, two smaller ones, and then a large one. Viewed with a certain amount of imagination, one could imagine that the rock was shaped like a bat with outstretched wings. 

"You're right," he said. "Let's land there so we can plan our next move." 

No one disagreed with the idea, so the dragons turned and began flying swiftly towards the rock. Now that they had a definite destination in time, they covered the distance in only seconds. Soon all of them were perched on the ridges of Bat Rock like a flock of oversized birds, while their human companions made their camp in the shelter of a crevice in the stone. They didn't have tents or fire-making material with them, but the gap in the rock was enough to provide a certain amount of shelter, and the Red Daemon's Dragon parked itself in front of the entrance to fend off the chilly night air. Other than being a bit dark, it was quite comfortable. 

Jack settled down with his back against a smooth portion of the wall. 

"So, what do we do now?" Crow asked. "We got any plans, or are we just winging it as usual?" 

"I don't know what we plan to do," said Jack. "What I want to do is to shut down these storm machines permanently, and to give these Yliasters a piece of my mind, in whatever order works out best. If anyone has any ideas how to do that, I'm listening." 

"We promised to look for Merina," said Aki quietly. 

"Well, if she was anywhere close by, we would have seen her while we were flying," said Crow. "She's probably holed up under a rock, just like we are." 

"I'll take suggestions for finding her, too," said Jack. 

"Did you guys ever make any headway with those notes from Professor LeBlanc?" Carly asked. 

"Some," said Yusei. "I think if we could get at the main controlling computers, we might be able to make some more progress." 

"Which ones?" Carly asked. "Don't each of the colonies have their own?" 

"Well, yes," said Bruno, "but they're all synced to each other. There's only one main one, and it controls all the others. It's kind of hard to explain." 

"Wait, that doesn't make sense," said Carly. "How can they be synced? You can't run wires between the colonies without them getting torn up, and you can't send signals over the airwaves without the storms disrupting them." 

"I don't think it's really the storms," said Yusei. "I think it's the energy that causes the storms - and that energy is coming from the generators. It's so powerful, it swamps all the other signals in range." 

"So we have to find the main computer and shut it down. Sabotage it," said Jack. "Let's blow it sky-high." 

"It would have to be done extremely carefully," Bruno warned. "Just shutting the computers down won't solve the power imbalance issues. It might just cause the storms to rampage out of control. Even if it doesn't, it will shut down all the power in every colony in the world all at once. There would be panic." 

"There's got to be something," Jack insisted. "And whatever it is, it has to be something we can do fast. We aren't likely to have time to spend weeks tinkering." 

"What if..." said Ruka hesitantly. "What if we opened a door? Or lots of doors. They don’t cause storms.” 

"Hm," said Yusei. "That is a thought. If we could open up _stable_ doors instead of uncontrolled storms, it might allow the energy to be equalized safely, without damaging either world." 

Carly said, "You know, when the fairies were telling me stories, they said that the two worlds used to be connected, a long, long time ago, and the people and monsters used to live side by side together. They say even now, everything in their world has... sort of a reflection in this world. That's why some people here have a monster that sort of bonds to them. It's like their monster-self." 

Jack looked out the front of the cave, where the Red Daemon's Dragon was still guarding the entrance. So, his monster-self was a gigantic clawed, winged, firebreathing terror? He could live with that. 

"I don't see why any of it matters," said Kiryu. "How are we going to get into a colony and be left alone with a computer long enough to make it do anything?" 

"We could cause a distraction?" Rua suggested. "That's what they always do in the stories. Somebody causes a distraction and someone else goes and steals the emerald or whatever." 

"What emerald are you talking about?" Ruka asked him. 

"Not a real one! That was just an example!" said Rua, frustrated. 

"It would have to be a pretty darned big distraction," said Crow. "I mean, I don't spend much time in these cities, but I have a feeling they don't leave humongous weather computers lying around where anyone can push their buttons." 

"The main one is in the Momentum colony," said Bruno. "I've been there. I could probably get back in if I had someone to cover me. Unless they've completely changed the security protocols..." 

"You can do it," said Yusei. "I have complete faith in you." 

"Then let's do it," said Jack. "We ought to be able to find our way to Momentum from here. We'll break in and cause a distraction while you two technical types rig the machines." 

"Yeah, I'm sure it'll be just that easy," said Kiryu. It was too dark to see his expression, but Jack suspected he was rolling his eyes. 

"I never said it would be easy, did I?" Jack asked. "I just said we should do it." 

"Oh, well, that's a big help," said Crow. 

"In case you hadn't noticed, we do have some backup," said Jack. "I'd imagine six dragons is enough to cause a pretty big distraction." 

"I dunno," said Crow. "You might have a point, but it still seems like a pretty big gamble..." 

"More than six," said Aki. 

Everyone jumped. She had been so quiet that in the dark, they had all but forgotten she was there. 

"What do you mean, more than six?" asked Yusei. 

"I can get us more than six dragons," she said. "Or more monsters, anyway. I am a monster caller, after all." 

"You know, that might just help," said Crow. "How many do you think you can get?" 

"As many as are in range," said Aki. "I'm not sure how far that is, but I can try." 

"I'll help, too," said Ruka. "I'm pretty good at it by now." 

Jack stood up. "Let's ask the dragons. As the rate they fly, they could probably get the word out to every monster for miles around." 

"So what are you saying?" asked Bruno. "Are you trying to rally an army?" 

"Well," said Jack, "you did say we needed more than six monsters..." 

**To Be Continued...**


	10. Breaking and Entering

The matter of technology in the colonies was a tricky one. The knowledge of how to make things had been carefully preserved over the years, but the resources to create some of them had become severely limited. Anyone who wanted something elaborate like a computer had to have the ability to either build it themselves or to fork over tremendous amounts of money to get someone else to do it. That was why security cameras were such rare things, even at the front gates of a colony where they would presumably be useful. 

You could put something quite large just outside of a colony wall without attracting any notice. 

Jack and his friends had been camped outside the walls of the Momentum colony for the last day or so. So had quite a lot of other creatures. Aki and Ruka had been taking turns at calling in every monster their limited strength could reach, while their dragon friends were flying in every direction to gather up every monster they could find. It seemed to be working. Within the first hour, small moving specks could be seen trundling across the wasteland or sailing through the sky. Soon there was a veritable host of them, shuffling and muttering with pent-up anticipation. Gossip was spreading among them. They were telling each other that the end of the storms might be at hand, that the one who had dragged them away from their homes was about to be made to suffer. 

Jack was rather pleased with the result. 

"Are we waiting much longer?" asked Crow. "These guys are getting restless." He stroked the head of one of the many birds that had taken to perching on or around him whenever he stood still. Jack had a vague impression that they were somehow connected to the centipede-like dragon that had carried Crow here. 

"Don't ask me," said Jack. "Ask those guys." 

He waved in the direction of Yusei and Bruno, who were crouched on the ground with heaps of papers spread out in front of them. Occasionally the wind would snatch one up, and the ever-present Kuribon would bounce off and catch it. The two men took little notice. They were deeply involved in refining their plans for creating permanent gates out of the computer systems. They spent a lot of time throwing large words around that Jack had no understanding of, so he had ignored them. As long as they eventually came up with workable answers, he didn't care what they did in the meantime. 

"Wish they'd hurry it up," said Crow. "Between you and me, this is giving me the creeps. All those eyes..." 

Jack looked around. There certainly were a lot of eyes looking at them, from creatures ranging from nearly human on up to things he didn't have names for. He didn't mind them staring, though. He found them comforting. It was nice to know he had all that on his side. 

Rua came rushing out of the crowd. With nothing better to do, he'd taken to playing with some of the smaller monsters, a few of which had even more energy than he did. 

"Hey, guess what!" he shouted. "We found Merina!" 

"That's a relief," said Carly. "I was really worried about her." 

"She's okay," said Rua. "She's pretty shaken up, but I don't think she's hurt or anything." 

"Good. Let's bring her up here," said Jack. "She knows something about leadership. She can help us keep all of these in line." 

Rua looked out at the assembled ranks of monsters. "Better her than me." 

He darted back into the crowd again, and emerged a few moments later dragging Merina by the hand. She looked dusty and bedraggled, and her clothes were torn, but she was in good enough spirits to smile when she saw Jack and the others. Carly darted over to greet her. 

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Everyone was really worried about you!" 

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm awfully thirsty, but if you have something to drink..." 

"We have water," Carly assured her. "Give us a few minutes and we can even have teyva." 

"In that case, I am perfectly well," said Merina. 

"Good, because we're going to need your help," said Jack. "We're about to do something drastic." 

Merina looked thoughtful for a moment. Her gaze scanned the crowd of monsters, which was still slowly growing as new arrivals joined the flock. 

"I think," she said, "that you have reached the point where something drastic is the only thing you can do." 

"Glad you agree," said Jack. "Carly, get Merina something to drink and fill her in on what's going on." 

"You got it!" she said, and led Merina away. 

Jack wandered over to where Yusei and Bruno were still at their plotting. He had been watching them out of the corner of his eye for a while now, and he had noticed that while in the beginning, they had been fiercely intent on their work, they were starting to relax now. They were sitting back and looking more at each other than at their diagrams, and they were diving for their pencils less often. He was taking this as a sign of progress, but he wanted to know for sure. 

"What have you come up with?" he said as he drew nearer. 

"I think we have it sorted out," said Yusei. "As much as we can without running extensive tests first." 

"No time for that," said Jack. 

"No equipment, either," said Bruno, in a tone that suggested he thought running tests beforehand would have been perfectly appropriate, if he could have. "We're just going to have to wing it and hope for the best." 

"So what else is new?" Jack retorted. 

Bruno laughed. "Not much! But to tell the truth, I'm glad to be doing it. It's like it makes up for helping them earlier, you know?" 

Jack didn't, but he said, "I know," anyway. 

Yusei stood up. 

"Bruno, you go over the diagrams again and make sure we didn't miss anything," he said. "I want to talk strategy with Jack for a while." 

"Okay," said Bruno, ever agreeable. 

Jack and Yusei began to walk around the perimeter of the dome. They could get almost all the way around before they would have to stop and go back. This was one of the colonies prosperous enough to have its own sub-domes attached to it, meant for housing crops and animals. They spread out behind the main colony like a cluster of baby birds following their mother. 

"Do we even have a strategy?" asked Jack. 

"Bruno is probably right," said Yusei. "We're just going to end up winging this one, for the most part." 

"Then why did you want to talk to me?" Jack replied. 

"Because it seemed like I ought to," said Yusei. "We've been letting you call the shots this far, and everyone is probably going to go on listening to you for as long as you keep giving orders." 

"So, what are you saying? I've been appointed leader? I don't want to be a leader," said Jack. "I just want to get this thing done, and if I have to shout at everyone to make them do it, I will." 

Yusei smiled mirthlessly. "I think it's the same thing." 

"So, what's your point?" Jack asked. 

"Mostly, I just want to know what I'm getting myself into," said Yusei. "When we started out, I know you didn't want anything to do with any of this. You didn't want to get involved. Now we're all going into a life-or-death situation, and if your heart still isn't in this..." He shrugged. 

Jack was quiet a moment. 

"I'm not asking anyone to do anything I'm not willing to do myself," he said at last. "It's not like I'm going to be sitting on the sidelines while you all run off and get killed." 

"I'm glad to hear it.' 

Jack glared at Yusei. "Are you being sarcastic?" 

"Not very." 

They walked a while longer. It was strangely quiet in the desert. Even the constant muttering of the assembled monsters blurred together until it was no more intrusive than the murmur of a brook or the rush of the wind, or perhaps the familiar rumble of his cycle engine. 

"Look," said Jack, "I know when this all started, all I wanted was to get out of it so I could go back to what I was doing. I can't do that now. My old life is over, and whether we win or lose it will still be over. This is all I have left. If I can't do this, then I might as well go lie down and let Kiryu bury me now, because there isn't any point in doing anything else." 

"You could have let us all stay in the other world," said Yusei. 

Jack looked at him narrowly, wondering if he was being provoked. 

"No," he said. "I couldn't." 

"Ah," said Yusei, nodding as though Jack had said something profound. 

"Look," said Jack, "you can say I'm a leader all you want, but when it all comes down, it's you and Bruno who are the important ones. You're the only ones who can get the gates open and stable. The best the rest of us can do is to keep the locals too busy to stop you." 

"So what are you saying?" Yusei asked. 

“I’m saying you shouldn’t be looking at me to lead you through this,” said Jack. “You’re going to have to do most of it on your own. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it possible for you to get it done, that’s all.” 

Yusei looked concerned. “I hope you aren’t planning on doing something foolish, Jack.” 

“If you have ideas at this point for anything that isn’t stupid, I’ll listen,” said Jack. He turned and started walking back to camp. “It’s just that the way I see it, there aren’t really a lot of other options.” 

* * *

By evening, things were more or less organized. Aki and Ruka had been relieved of their monster-calling duties and sent to take naps so that they would be refreshed by evening. The group had agreed that it would be best to strike at dinnertime, when everyone would be relaxed and distracted. Now they stood near the edge of one of the agricultural domes. 

"Are you ready, Rua?" Yusei asked. 

Rua nodded and patted his dragon friend on the leg. "We're ready! C'mon, Power Tool Dragon, do your stuff!" 

The dragon gave a rumble of agreement and dove at the sand. Everyone jumped backwards, shielding their eyes with their arms as plumes of dirt flew up from the ground. The dragon was digging, messily and enthusiastically. Within seconds he had a little pit dug next to the dome wall. He kept digging. Soon he was beneath the sand and digging into hard-packed earth. Then the dragon was out of sight, though dirt and debris continued to fly out of the hole. Jack leaned against the wall and listened to the sounds of digging, growing first fainter and then louder again. There was a rushing, rumbling noise, and the digging sounds stopped. A moment later, the dragon popped back out of the hole again, shaking dirt off its body and looking pleased with itself. 

"Thatta boy!" said Rua, patting the dragon. "I knew you could do it!" 

"That was the easy part," said Jack. "Does everyone know what they're supposed to do?" 

"We've been over this a million times," said Crow, but not with as much impatience as he might have. Everyone was nervous enough that they didn't mind some reassurance that they were doing what they were supposed to do. 

"We get to the computer center," said Kiryu. "By any means necessary." 

"That about sums it up," said Jack. "Bruno, you're in the lead. Yusei, Aki, Rua, stick close to Bruno. Everyone else, follow them and keep them out of trouble. No matter what, they all have to make it to the computers, got it?" 

Everyone nodded. One by one, they began picking their way through the rough tunnel that the Power Tool Dragon had dug. They came up through the smell of onions - the dragon had dug straight into a field of vegetables. Jack supposed it was better than digging through a pigpen. He brushed dust off his clothes as he stepped out into the fresh air. 

He took a moment to take in his surroundings. He had never actually been inside an agricultural dome before. It was very quiet. All the farm hands had already gone home for their evening meals, and there was nothing left but rows and rows of vegetables as far as the eye could see. He supposed he should have felt sorry about destroying the onion patch, but he'd never really liked onions and he couldn't bring himself to mourn the loss of a few. 

They trudged in a ragged line through the fields of squash and tomatoes and peas. It reminded Jack of the teyva fields, and made him feel vaguely homesick. It was a strange thing to feel about a place that wasn't home, and he tried not to think about it. Instead, he kept his gaze fixed on the door at the far end of the dome. It would lead them through a long corridor that would, with any luck, take them into the main part of the colony. While the front gates might be heavily guarded, Jack didn't think anyone had ever tried digging under a colony into the farms before, and therefore no one would be thinking of guarding against it. They could walk right through the door and mingle with the townsfolk without attracting any attention. Probably no one would figure out how they'd gotten there until the next morning. 

That was the plan, anyway. They walked down the long passage, which was unlit, and soon became pitch-black once they passed beyond the reach of the light from the dome. Why should they be lit when no one was using them? It was enough to give a person claustrophobia, but at least the floor was level and the walls went straight ahead without a single curve or corner. It all went smoothly until Jack suddenly walked into someone. It caused a momentary pileup as the people behind him collided with him. 

"Hey, what did you do that for?" shouted Rua from the back. 

"I didn't get any choice in the matter," Kiryu muttered. 

They backed up and reorganized themselves. 

"The door is locked," said Bruno. "I mean, I can't open it." 

"They must have locked up after everyone went home," said Carly. 

"Geez, what do they think - someone is going to come in here and steal the weeds?" Crow muttered. "Here, move outta the way. I'll make it open." 

There was some jostling as Crow pushed his way to the front. Everyone stood back to give him room to work. Jack could hear him muttering to himself, the kind of narrative that meant he was working his way through a problem that was more annoying than troubling. 

"Ah, here we go!" said Crow. There was a metallic scraping noise, and then a _ping_. A hairline crack of light appeared as the door popped slightly ajar. 

"Good going, Crow!" said Rua. 

Crow flashed a grin and made a showy bow. He dug his fingers into the crack and yanked, and the door slid open easily. 

At the same instant, a bell began to ring. Crow slapped his hand against his face. "Oh, don't tell me." 

"How was I supposed to know there was an alarm?" Jack demanded. 

"Let's get out of here," said Yusei. "Follow me." 

They ran, but not far. They made a lap around the nearest building and then slackened their pace, falling in with the other curious people who were coming to see what all the fuss was about. They mingled with the crowd, asking vague questions about what was going on, being told that no, no one had any idea. Eventually, some police turned up and began chasing people back into their homes. 

"Come on, kids, let's go back inside," said Aki loudly, and put her hands on Rua and Ruka's shoulders, leading them away. 

As the crowd dispersed, Jack whispered to his companions, "Split up and meet me at the town hall." 

They nodded and scattered. There was no need to tell them where the town hall was located - it was always in the same place in every colony, precisely at the center of the main dome. It could be seen from anywhere in the colony if you looked in the right direction. He had been there several times himself, and as he walked the familiar streets, he felt as though everything he'd been through had been a long nightmare, and all he'd have to do would be to hand over a letter to some lesser functionary and walk out again. He'd find his cycle waiting for him back at the garage, and he could check into a rest house for the night and go right back to his usual routine. He was surprised how much he didn't want it to be true. It seemed like a small, dull existence to someone who had walked through a door in the world, and a cycle didn't compare to riding a dragon. 

_I won't go back. Maybe I'll die, but I won't go back._

He was the first to reach the town hall. He found a bench and sat on it, staring up at what passed for a sky in this place. The lights of the dome were changing color, from sunset orange to a deep blue. People didn't want to go out anymore, but they wanted to be able to pretend that they were outside. When night came, smaller lights would take the place of stars. It still wasn't very interesting to look at. 

After a few minutes, the rest of the group began drifting over to join him. Once all of them were gathered, they began walking into the main foyer. A receptionist looked up at them as they entered. 

"May I help..." he began, and stopped. "Aren't you Jack Atlas?" 

"No, I'm his maiden aunt," said Jack sarcastically. "We look a lot alike." 

"You're supposed to be dead!" the man exclaimed. 

"Was I? Well, I never got the paperwork for it," said Jack. "Where's the man in charge?" 

The receptionist looked wary. "Why do you want to talk to him?" 

A flicker of movement went from the group to the receptionist's desk. Suddenly Kiryu was standing behind the man, holding a knife in each hand. He smiled his toothiest grin. 

"Hello, there," he said. "Do you know who I am?" 

"You... you're a Death's Angel, aren't you?" the man stammered. 

"That's right," Kiryu purred, "and guess what? I'm behind on my quota this week. Maybe you'd like to help me out?" 

"N-n-no, sir! Please, I don't..." 

"Let me in to see Mayor Goodwin and I'll call him off," said Jack. 

"The mayor is in a conference," said the receptionist nervously. "I really don't think he should be..." 

"I don't think you're listening," said Kiryu pleasantly. "Maybe I should cut off your ears, since you aren't using them." He set one of his knives against the side of the man's head. "Which would you like me to do first, the left or the right?" 

"All right, all right! He's in the conference room on the third floor! Straight up the stairs, down the hall, fifth door on the leftt! Now please don't hurt me!" 

"Thanks for your cooperation," said Jack, and started walking briskly towards the stairs. 

The others scampered after him. 

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Carly nervously. "I mean, these guys... they don't like you very much." 

"The feeling is mutual," said Jack. 

"Yeah, but..." 

"Look," he said. "The idea here is to stall for time. I'm more likely to distract them than anyone else here is. It has to be me. Your job is to get to the radio transmitter and get the word out about everything that's going on. Understood?" 

Her expression was sullen. "I don't like it. What if something happens to you?" 

"Then you had better hope it doesn't happen until after you're done broadcasting, hadn't you?" said Jack. "Look, I'll catch up when I can, but what you're going to do is more important. Get it done and get yourself to safety." More quietly, he said, "I don't want anything to happen to you either." 

"All right," she said, "but if this goes wrong I'll find a way to make you sorry!" 

He laughed. Somehow, that made him feel better. 

"Time to split up," said Bruno. "We're headed for the basement. That's where all the equipment should be." 

"Any idea how long we need to stall?" Jack asked. 

Yusei consulted a scrap of paper he produced from his pocket. "About twenty minutes, at the least." 

"Right," said Crow. "Better make this some world-class stalling, then." 

"We know you're up to the challenge," said Bruno, flashing him a smile. 

"So are you," said Crow. "C'mon, guys, let's do this thing so we can all go home." 

They split up, with Jack, Crow, and Kiryu going upstairs to the conference room, and everyone else heading down to the computers. It felt a bit strange to be splitting up even a little bit, after they had come so far together. Jack tried to tell himself that it was only temporary. He hoped it was, anyway, since the alternative meant that he'd be behind bars, or worse. Divine's prison had been bad enough, and that was a gilded cage compared to what these people would do to him. 

So of course, he was going to walk right into the room with them. 

They reached the conference room and paused outside, gauging the situation. Jack could hear two voices inside, conversing in low tones, and he put his ear to the door to hear better. One of them was clearly the rough voice of Rudger Goodwin, mayor of Momentum. The other was the more polished tones of his brother Rex, who has set Jack on this whole crazy ride. Good. It was nice to have everything all tidied together. 

Rudger was saying, "I can't believe he just disappeared into thin air. There has to be some way to find them." 

"There isn't," said Rex, in tones of long-suffering patience. "They passed through the door to the other worlds, and without more monster callers to direct the machine, trying to re-open the door could have disastrous consequences. We can't look for them. Even if we could, they've probably been eaten by a monster by now." 

"I don't like it," Rudger complained. 

"There is nothing to worry about," said Rex. "As I said, they're probably all dead by now, and even if they aren't, they aren't going to be able to come back." 

"It's too easy," said Rudger. "Problems don't just lead you on a merry chase all over creation, leaving death and mayhem in their wake, and then just quietly take care of themselves. No, there's a loose end somewhere, and we haven't found it yet." 

"You worry too much. I promise you, we've heard the last of all of them." 

That was the moment Jack chose to open the door to the conference room. Two faces snapped around to stare at him. Jack walked confidently, his footsteps on the soft carpet the loudest sound in the room. 

"Good evening, Mayor Goodwin," said Jack. "I've come to deliver your mail." 

He took the letter, now much-folded and battered, out from beneath his jacket, and threw it at Rudger's feet. 

The silence stretched on. Jack saw Rex's face go red as he looked from Jack to the letter and back again. He was clearly making rapid calculations in his head, trying to work out what was going on. Rudger looked annoyed at Jack's impertinence, but there was a clear glint of satisfaction in his eyes as well. After all, he had been right. 

"What are you doing here?" Rex demanded. 

"Keeping my oath," said Jack. "A courier delivers the letters he's given, no matter what. It's not my fault this one got broken." 

"And I suppose you're going to tell me you didn't read it," said Rex. 

Jack gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Someone told me what it said." 

"And yet, here you are," said Rex. "What sort of game are you playing, Mr. Atlas?" 

"Who says I'm playing a game? I told you, I'm delivering the mail." 

Rex scowled. "I'll warn you, I dislike it when people are deliberately obtuse with me." 

"And I don't like it when people take me for a fool," said Jack. "You should have known better than to think you could ask me to deliver my own death sentence and think I wouldn't figure it out. Did you think I'm stupid?" 

"The fact that you're standing here tells me yes, you are," said Rudger. 

Jack gave him a look. "What do you think I should do? Keep running away from you forever? Let you chase me down like a frightened rabbit? That's a fine way for the greatest courier alive to die." 

"So you decided meekly turning yourself over like a good little lamb would be more heroic?" Rudger sneered. 

"No," said Jack. "I came to bargain." 

Rudger snorted. "As if. Kill him now, Rex. We can't trust him." 

"You can use me," said Jack. "You're bound to need to communicate with other people in your organization. You're bound to need people to watch over the ones you don't trust. I can go anywhere and visit anyone, and no one will ever suspect a thing - and I can get there and back again faster than anyone else you have on your payroll. That's got to be worth something to you." 

"Why should we let you live?" Rudger asked. "You know too much. We can always get more couriers." 

"Sure, but then you'll have to kill them next," said Jack. "Couriers die in the field all the time, but sooner or later someone is going to realize that people who take jobs for you have an unusually high death rate for people who are only going to the next city over. On the other hand, no one would blink if you wanted to make a pet out of someone with a reputation." 

"You make an excellent case," Rex drawled. He gave Jack a narrow look. "But you still don't explain why we can trust you. Why should we think that you won't start telling our secrets as soon as we let you out of our sights?" 

"Because," said Jack, "I need you people to keep doing what you're doing. I'm a courier. I'm good at it. It's all I know. If someone stops you from doing what you're doing, no one is going to need couriers anymore. If I break up your act, I go from legend to nobody overnight, and that's one thing I won't stand for. On the other hand, if I'm working for you, I'll be better off than I was before. If all I'm doing is carrying messages back and forth between you two, I could pick a city and set up a household of my own." 

"Do you hear this guy?" said Rudger. "I'm telling you, let's kill him now. It's the only way we'll know for sure that he'll keep his mouth shut." 

Rex gazed thoughtfully off into space. "On the other hand, he may just be telling the truth." 

"You really believe that crock?" said Rudger. "I didn't think you were that gullible." 

"I'm merely considering the possibility," said Rex. "A trustworthy messenger would save us a lot of difficulty." 

"The question you should be asking yourselves is, why would I lie to you?" said Jack. "If I double-cross you, I don't gain anything and stand to lose a lot. If I help you, I get to keep my life and keep my job, and everyone is happy. It just makes sense. Look, you blew up an _entire city_ to keep me quiet. Do you think I can't see the writing on the wall?" 

"Technically, we did it to keep the professor quiet," said Rudger. "It was just our good luck that you and your friends were there as well." 

Rex shifted in his chair. "Where are your friends, by the way? I notice they aren't with you." 

"They weren't my friends," said Jack. "They were just somebody with a grudge against you people, and I thought they could help me. I was wrong, obviously. All they did was lead me straight into prison and nearly got me executed." 

"So you abandoned them? Where are they now?" asked Rex. 

"Still on the other side, last I saw them," said Jack. 

"Interesting," said Rex. "What's it like there?" 

"Boring," said Jack. "There was nothing there but some filthy little stick-and-mud village where they expected me to stand out in a field all day grubbing for weeds. I wasn't having that, so I waited for the next storm and caught a lift with a passing monster." 

"Now I know he's lying," Rudger scoffed. 

"I am not," said Jack haughtily. "Monsters are no trouble. You just have to know how to handle them. Do you think I survived this long as a courier without having a few tricks to handle monsters?" 

"I suppose that makes sense," said Rex. "You have a pat answer for everything, don't you? Almost too neat, really." 

Jack felt a bead of sweat trickling between his shoulder blades. He forced himself to remain calm, keeping his expression neutral. 

"You think I'm lying? Is that it?" he said, raising his voice. "You're a couple of paranoids. I walk in offering to help you and you want to kill me. You ask me to explain myself and you say I'm lying. What do you want, an oath in blood?" 

"I want some proof you're really on our side," said Rudger. "Maybe if you do something for us, we'll be convinced." 

"You mean some kind of test run?" asked Jack. "I can live with that. What did you have in mind?" 

"I can think of a few places I'd like to start," said Rudger. 

Rex steepled his fingers thoughtfully. "You say you can ride monsters through the storm. That would be an impressive feat, if it were true." 

"Yes. What of it?" Jack replied. 

"Perhaps you'd be willing to go through the door and fetch us something from the other side," said Rex. 

"I can do that," said Jack. "What do you want? More of what that Divine was making us haul? You should probably know he wasn't even scratching the surface. He would only bring over what he could convince you he was getting from this world, but there are other things I could get that would make your jaws drop." 

"A tempting offer, but not what I was thinking," said Rex. "I was thinking of asking you to fetch back your friends." 

There was a tense pause. Jack waited, barely breathing, waiting to see where this was going to lead. Rex smiled at him. 

"You can do that, can't you?" he asked. 

Jack felt himself nod. "Alive or dead?" 

"Whatever you can best manage," said Rex. "I am not particular. Of course, we would be sending a few helpers along with you, to keep you from... getting lost." 

"Of course," said Jack. "I could have guessed." 

Rex turned to his brother. "Does this plan meet your approval? If he goes along with it, we can assume he is being sincere with us. If he tries to betray us, he can be killed and his body disposed of in the other world where it will never be found." 

"Sounds unnecessarily complicated," said Rudger. "You always liked pushing people around like your little pawns. It's going to get you in trouble someday." 

"And you will learn someday that not everything should be solved with brute force," said Rex, without any particular condemnation. 

Jack relaxed slightly, though he tried not to let it show on the outside. If the two men wanted to get into an argument, that was all the better for him. He was more than content to stand around and let them argue about his fate for as long as they cared to, because time they spent arguing was time that the others could spend setting up the gates. 

It also meant that Kiryu and Crow wouldn't have to come in and rescue him just yet, which was good. He didn't have a plan for getting himself out of here, much less anyone else. Winging it would be easier if he was only worrying about getting himself out of the line of fire. 

The argument didn't have time to go on as long as he would have liked, however. A rearward door to the conference room swung open, and a besuited man rushed in, carrying a radio. 

"What do you want?" Rudger demanded. "Can't you see we're doing something here?" 

The man made as much of a bow as he could while still holding on to the cumbersome machine. 

"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but you have to hear this!" 

He turned on the radio. Jack was displeased but not surprised to hear Carly's voice. She was speaking in her best "breaking news" tone, explaining briskly and factually the nature of the storms, the energy machines, and the monsters. Even as the group listened, she reached the end of her spiel and started over. Jack watched the expressions flash over the two mayors' faces. 

Rex was the first to put the pieces together. He jerked around to glare at Jack. 

"You've been lying to us," he said. 

Jack smiled. "Guess your brother isn't as stupid as he looks, after all." 

"You'll regret this," Rex snarled. "Seize this man at once!" 

The only person available to obey the command was the man carrying the radio. He was an inoffensive looking man with a round belly and tiny half-moon glasses on his babylike face. Jack almost felt impressed as the clerk valiantly tried to get the radio under one arm while reaching for Jack with the other. 

"Sir, I don't know what this is all about, but if you'll just..." 

There was no time to mess around. Jack whipped his fist up and struck the man in the nose, sending him reeling backwards. The radio slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor, bursting in a shower of parts. The man himself stumbled on the carpet and fell onto his ample rear, hands clutched to his face as blood dripped through his fingers. The look on his face was one of pure amazement; probably he had never offended anyone in his life, and being hit was something new. Jack consoled himself by thinking that once his broken nose had healed, he could spend the rest of his life impressing people with the story of how he'd fought a desperate criminal, and perhaps attract more respect from now on. 

He didn't have long to think about that, though, because Rudger was already coming at him. Fortunately, Rudger had been sitting down, and that gave Jack a second or two to collect himself before the man could get to his feet. Then Rudger was barreling towards him like a charging bull, and Jack had no choice but to get out of the way. He was an able fighter, but Rudger was big enough to give him cause for concern, and he wasn't about to take chances with him. 

_Dodge. Lead him on. Make him too mad to see straight, and wait for an opening._

"Then again," said Jack, "it wouldn't take much to be smarter than you look." 

"We'll see how smart you look with your face broken," Rudger snarled. 

"I know how I'll look," said Jack. "I'll still look better than you." 

"That's it! The first thing I'm gonna do, I'm gonna tear off that smart mouth of yours," said Rudger. He made another lunge, and Jack danced out of the way. The temptation to stick out his tongue was almost overwhelming. 

"You can try it, but it won't make you any smarter," Jack jeered. 

Rudger gave him a wicked grin. Then he crouched, preparing to spring. No, wait, that wasn't it. What was he... 

Jack didn't quite realize what was going to happen until it did. Rudger had seized the rug they'd been standing on and gave it a jerk, so forcefully that the fragile weave tore a little. Jack was pulled off his feet, and he fell hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Rudger laughed and threw the rug, so that Jack found himself trying not only to remember how to breathe, but to draw enough air through a thick, dusty piece of carpeting. He flailed vaguely, trying to find his way out from under it. 

"Lesson learned," said Rudger. The floor vibrated with each step he took. "Don't assume someone is stupid because he's strong." Another step, closer now. Too close for comfort. "Too bad you aren't going to live long enough to make use of it..." 

Jack made a desperate jerk and managed to roll over, rug and all. As he did, he felt something collide with his side - Rudger had kicked him. It hurt, but not nearly as much as it would have if he hadn't already been rolling away. He managed to get the rug underneath him where it belonged and pulled himself into a crouch. 

"So, you've still got a little fight in you, huh?" said Rudger. "Come on, on your feet. I'm gonna pound a lesson into you that you'll never forget." 

Jack grinned. "Like, never forget to watch your back?" 

"Oh, no, I'm not going to fall for..." Rudger began, and stopped abruptly. He ducked and whirled around just as Kiryu and Crow lunged at him. A swing of his fist sent Crow staggering backwards. Kiryu's knife whistled over Rudger's head, and before he could make his next move, Rudger had straightened again and drove his fist at Kiryu's jaw. Kiryu blocked it, but the force of the blow was enough to drive him back a pace or two. Crow scrambled to his feet and braced himself for another charge. 

"Where did you two clowns come from?" Rudger demanded. 

Crow grinned. "Well, see, when a woman and a man love each other very much..." 

"Lesson learned," Jack deadpanned. "Never assume that your enemy showed up alone." 

"What happened to the guards?" Rudger asked. 

Kiryu twirled his knife over his fingers. "We got bored waiting for you three to shut up, so we found the guards and stuffed them in a broom closet." He licked his knife. " _Most_ of them, anyway, if you get my drift." 

Rudger watched this performance with morbid fascination. It gave Jack just long enough to seize on an ornamental statue sitting in a niche and swing it at the back of Rudger's head. The statue turned out to be hollow, and shattered to pieces, but Rudger grunted and clapped his hands to the back of his head, dropping to his knees from pain and shock. Kiryu promptly struck him on the temple with the blunt end of his knife and put him down for a nap. Crow produced cord from his pocket and began tying up the unconscious man. 

"Took you guys long enough to get here," said Jack. Feeling spiteful, he picked up the rug and threw it over Rudger. Let _him_ suffocate under there for a while. 

"We didn't want to blow your cover until we couldn't put it off any longer," said Crow. "Besides..." He began to say more, then apparently thought the better of it. Jack narrowed his eyes. 

"Besides what?" he asked. 

"You were doing some pretty heavy talking back there," said Crow. He was looking at his shoes instead of at Jack. "I mean, you sounded pretty convincing. You can't blame us for wondering if some of it was true." 

"Some of it was true," said Jack. "Just not enough of it for me to really mean it." 

"That's not very comforting," said Crow. 

"Nothing about this situation is comfortable," said Jack. "Look, I don't like any of this. You know that. But I'm not going to turn on you. If I did that, I'd have nothing left." Not wanting to pursue that line of conversation any further, he added, "By the way, where did Rex go?" 

Kiryu and Crow looked questioningly at each other. 

“Dammit,” Jack muttered. 

**To Be Continued...**


	11. Fallout

Jack stood in the silent room and waited for an answer. Whatever it was, he knew he was not going to like it. The only answer he was going to like was the one that told him that Rex Goodwin was incapacitated somewhere close by, ready for justice to be administered in some particularly painful fashion. 

"Haven't seen him," said Kiryu. "He must have slipped out the side while we were dealing with this chump." 

"Do we go looking for him?" asked Crow. 

Jack shook his head. "No time now. He could be anywhere. We need to find the others." 

Kiryu frowned. "I don't like letting him get away." 

"Jack's right," said Crow. "Either he's gone into hiding, in which case the monsters will get him eventually, or he's gone to try to stop the others, which means we need to get there first." 

"Great," said Crow. "Any idea where everyone else went?" 

Kiryu shrugged. "I say we look for stairs and go down them." 

No one had a better idea, so they took his suggestion and took to the hallways again. Eventually they found a staircase that looked like it wasn't used very often and decided to try it. They made it down a few floors before they found evidence that they were going the right way: it looked as though some of the landings they passed had been shut with computerized locks, which had been forced open by someone as they passed. Jack looked at the remains of the locks and was glad that Yusei and Bruno had felt the press of time, and had elected not to stand around and tinker with what was no doubt fascinating technology. 

At the very bottom of the stairs was a dimly lit passage, which seemed to be made mainly of concrete, with no ornamentation or even a carpet to soften the floor. Every step they took echoed. Jack took an instant dislike to the place, not only because it was dark and cramped, but because it reminded him too much of being in prison. He was never going to be able to stomach underground places again. He could feel the thrum of a large machine somewhere nearby, sending vibrations through the floor. The thought that these vibrations were probably caused in part by someone trying to open a door to another world was not particularly comforting, even if the people doing it were on his side. 

Eventually, Jack was able to hear Carly's voice over the thrumming of the machines, and homed in on it. He found her sitting at a surprisingly ordinary desk, speaking into a microphone. Her expression said that she would rather be doing anything else, but her voice remained measured and steady, conditioned by a lifetime of practice. When he came in, he saw relief flash across her features. She quickly finished up her spiel and turned the microphone off before running over and throwing herself at him. 

"I was worried about you!" she said. 

"Nice that you had so much faith in the rest of us," quipped Crow from the hallway. 

She loosened her grip on Jack just enough that she could aim a glare past him. 

"You know what I mean!" she said. 

Jack gently nudged her away from him. "I heard you speaking on the radio. You did a good job." 

She flushed a little, looking pleased. "I don't know which stations get their news from here, but news like this is going to spread like wildfire no matter who hears it. Even if it's just one courier, that will be enough." 

"Let's hope so," said Jack, "because we're running out of time. One of the Goodwins knows we're here, and I don't think he's going to just give up just because we blabbed his secrets." 

Carly looked puzzled. "What good will it do him now? If everybody knows, he can't keep making trouble anymore, can he?" 

"No," said Crow, "but it'll be a while before everyone gets the message, and he can make life pretty miserable for us between now and then if we let him catch us." 

She nodded. "Let's see if the others are done yet." 

They continued to the end of the hallway. The final set of doors opened up into a large room that contained more machinery than Jack had ever seen in one place before. He would have stopped walking to stare at him if so many other people hadn't been walking behind him. No matter how curious he might have been, he wasn't about to let anyone catch him standing around gawping like a bumpkin. He moved aside to let the others trickle into the room, and then strolled along behind them so he could stare at his leisure. 

It was hard to get an idea of the exact size of the room because so much else was in it. Jack was no expert on machinery, so he could only guess what the great rumbling blocks of metal were doing, but he could see pistons thumping and turbines turning. Cables and pipes, some as thick as his leg, snaked across the floors and up the walls into sockets in the ceiling. Lights blinked on and off, most of them glowing red, giving the inside of the room a hellish light. At the far end of the room, something ovoid sat on a pedestal, crackling and popping with electric sparks. Yusei and Bruno crouched over a console, murmuring to each other as they both typed rapidly on a console. Aki and the twins stood nearby, watching their progress nervously. 

"How is it going?" Jack asked, as soon as he was close enough to be heard over the machines. 

"Slowly," said Yusei. "These things were locked down with all sorts of security. We had to hack our way in before we could get them to do anything at all." 

"We'll have it done soon, though," said Bruno. "How did your distraction go?" 

"Not as well as we hoped," said Kiryu. "Big surprise there." 

"We took one of the Goodwins out," Crow elaborated. "The other one got away." 

Aki gave him an anxious look. "Is it time for the next part of the plan, then?" 

"Guess we'd better go for it," said Crow. "Not much else we can do." 

Aki nodded. She closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts. Ruka did likewise. The air seemed to take on a new quality, a vibration that had nothing to do with the machinery. For a few minutes, there was nothing but the hum of motors and the clatter of Yusei and Bruno typing. Jack realized he was holding his breath and forced himself to let it out slowly and steadily. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to get the mistaken impression that he was nervous. 

His one consolation was that when the alarm went off, he wasn't the only one who twitched. 

"Attention," said a droning voice over the intercom. "There has been a structural failure. All personnel should exit the building immediately, and retreat to a secure location. This is not a drill. I repeat, there has been a structural failure..." 

Rua looked nervous. "Is that good or bad?" 

"Probably good for us," said Crow. "Not so good for everyone else." 

"I ought to be able to patch into the security system," said Bruno. "Want me to give it a shot? It'll only take a minute." 

"I don't know about the rest of you people," said Kiryu, "but I'd like to know what's going on out there." 

"Go on, give it a try," said Yusei. "I think I can finish this on my own." 

Bruno nodded and began typing rapidly. A screen on one side of the console that had been dark up until then suddenly lit. What it showed was the view of the inside of a perfectly ordinary office, its occupant already vanished to a safer climate. Bruno sucked his teeth in irritation and pushed more buttons, cycling rapidly through several screens. At last, he stopped on one that showed the outside of the building, giving them a slightly grainy view of the radio tower and the highest point of the dome. At least, it showed the place where all of that used to be. What was there now was a dozen or more monsters, who were methodically peeling away the roof of the dome, as though it were a present they didn't want to seem too eager to open. The hole was already big enough that several of them had already gotten inside, and were busy clambering down the side of the building, or even forcing their way inside it. Bruno clicked more buttons, and the scene changed, this time to ground level. Monsters who hadn't been able to fly or climb up to the roof were instead swarming the ground level. The people were understandably running in panic, but the monsters continued marching steadily towards the central building, ignoring everything else in their path. The front door wasn't wide enough to let some of them in, but they didn't seem to mind - the larger ones simply ripped the doors off the hinges and tore chunks out of the wall until there was room for everyone. 

Crow whistled. "Looks like we're about to have some company. Better get that door open in a hurry, man." 

"I'm trying," said Yusei. "All the commands are set. We just have to wait for it to run." 

"How long will that take?" Kiryu asked. 

"Not long," Yusei assured him. "Only a few..." 

But whatever he was going to say was interrupted as the lights went out. They went out all at the same moment, and they went out completely, leaving the subterranean room in perfect blackness. Jack blinked a few times, resisting the urge to rub his eyes and try to clear away the darkness by force. 

"What happened?" he demanded. He sounded peevish, even to himself. 

"I don't know," said Yusei, sounding mystified. "We could have overloaded the power grid, but I didn't think we were pushing it that hard..." 

"So, what do we do?" asked Carly. 

"I don't know," Yusei admitted. "If I knew my way around the electrical system better, I could reset it." 

"Maybe we could find a lamp or something?" Rua suggested. 

There was a noise of stumbling in the dark, and then a curse. 

"I can't even find the door," Crow muttered. 

"Allow me to assist you with that," said a new voice. 

Jack had just enough sense to close his eyes then, so that when the lights snapped on a second later, he wasn't instantly dazzled by them. Instead, he navigated by sound, turning towards the direction he had heard the voice coming from. A single screen on one of the consoles showed a flickering image of Goodwin's face, looking pleased with his little bit of theatricality. Jack clenched his fist, taking a few steps towards the machine without thinking. His upper brain might know he was only seeing a screen, but that didn't do much to quell the desire to punch that smug smile off his face. 

"If you break that computer, you'll regret it," said Goodwin calmly. "I expect you will, anyway. My prognostications have failed me before." 

"What are you talking about?" Jack demanded. 

"You really should have done more research," said Goodwin. "You see, a system like this requires very complex electrical wiring systems. I have turned the lights back on, but the generator and all its components are, for the moment, nothing more than scrap metal. As you admitted yourselves, you don't know how to start the generator going again. I know where the controls are. Certainly, you could find them, if you had the time and leisure, but I know you don't. You have a crowd of monsters on their way here, don't you? I don't know what you intend to do with them, but I'd imagine that they will be rather upset with you when you fail to deliver. They might tear you to pieces. They might tear the building to pieces, destroying any chance you might have had at completing your little errand, even if the excitable Mr. Atlas doesn't break that console in a fit of temper. What were you trying to do, by the way?" 

"None of your business," said Crow. 

Goodwin was unfazed. "I should think anything happening in my basement would be my business. Now that you've torn a hole in the roof with your monster friends, we'll have to declare this colony a loss. That's the second this month. I am not very pleased about this." 

"You blew the other one up yourself!" Kiryu said. "That was your fault!" 

"And this is yours," Goodwin answered placidly. "Now, let's be reasonable here. This plan of yours is not going to go any further today. Whatever you were trying to do, it's over. You may as well cooperate." 

"Why should we cooperate with you?" asked Crow. "How do we even know you aren't lying through your teeth? You're too chicken to even come down here and talk to us face to face, and you think we're scared of you? At least your brother put up a fight." 

"Our styles are different," he said. "I have often chided my brother for preferring brute force when a bit of subtlety would do just as well. I do not like to make waves if I can help it." 

"I hate to break it to ya," said Crow, "but I'm pretty sure we just made a doozy of a wave already." 

"Yes, I am aware of your little radio transfer," said Goodwin. "Such things can be smoothed over." 

Aki narrowed her eyes at him, her expression one of distaste. It was possible that she found his smooth manner to be entirely too much like Divine's pleasant way of manipulating everyone he came in contact with, all the while making it clear what a kind and thoughtful gentleman he was. 

"Why are you trying to make deals with us?" she asked. 

"To be blunt," he replied, "because in a very short time, your army is going to get here, and I have no expectations of being treated kindly by them." 

Jack narrowed his eyes. "What are you suggesting, and why should we care?" 

"Because there is no reason why this needs to end in violence," said Goodwin calmly. "Here is what I am proposing. You may open your gate and let these monsters leave. I certainly don't want them here. Then you will publicly retract the statements made over the radio. We will make it clear that you were misled. The former mayor Divine will make a suitable scapegoat, and perhaps Professor LeBlanc as well. They fed you false information, hoping to stir up trouble for their own purposes, and you innocently believed them. You will be sincerely apologetic, and eager to show in public how sorry you are to have maligned my brother and me. You will, in fact, become our ardent public supporters. In return, we will graciously forgive you of your misdeeds, and perhaps even offer you work. I'm sure we could find places for you." 

"You want me to do your dirty deeds for you after all," said Jack. 

"Suffice to say that your particular skills could be employed in a variety of ways," said Goodwin. "The same goes for your friends here. All of you are uniquely talented, to have learned so much and made it this far. I'm sure we could find places for all of you. Doing what you did for Divine, perhaps, but with better accommodations." 

Crow rolled his eyes. "You'd keep us in a better prison, is that it?" 

"Of course not," said Goodwin. "You would be free to come and go as you pleased, as long as you showed up when you were needed. It would be a much better situation than anything you've had before." There was a rumble above them, and then a crash. "It sounds as though you had better make your decision in a hurry, though. I think our friends will be here shortly, and things will become much more complicated very quickly." 

"No deal," said Yusei. "You people killed my father. I wouldn't work for you no matter what you offered." 

"Well, then," said Goodwin, "you'll just have to explain to a few hundred agitated monsters why you are refusing to do what it takes to get them home." 

"Our friends won't turn on us," said Ruka, and the Kuribon in her arms gave a chirp of agreement. 

Goodwin's smile was unpleasant. "Are they your friends? How much are you willing to bet that I can't persuade at least a few of them that you've betrayed them?" 

"They won't believe it," said Aki. 

Jack nodded and folded his arms. "I trust them a lot more than I trust you." 

"Yeah, don't do us any favors, pal," said Crow. "Take a hike. Maybe if you move fast, we won't convince the monsters to eat you instead." 

Goodwin's features tensed for a moment before smoothing over again. It was clear that he had expected them to take his deal, but his reaction was more of annoyance than desperation. 

"I see," he said. "It appears that we are at an impasse. Very well, you will go your way, and I will go mine." 

His image vanished, replaced by a blank blue screen. 

"And good riddance!" Crow shouted after him. 

"Glad he's gone," said Rua. "That guy was creepy." 

"That was too easy," Jack muttered. 

"Well, whatever he's going to do, we still have to get this computer running as fast as possible," said Yusei. 

Bruno nodded. "Now that we have light again, I'll try to find the control panel. If this place is anything like the others I worked in, there should be one around here somewhere." 

The others started mulling around, trying to get their various tasks moving again, or else trying to burn off nervousness. Jack kept walking in circles and shooting irritated glances towards the door. Carly watched him with concern. 

"What are you thinking?" she asked. 

"He gave up too easily," said Jack. "He didn't talk to us as a last-ditch effort, he did it because he wanted to take one more stab at getting us to come quietly before he _does_ make his last ditch effort. He's up to something, and whatever it is, we're not going to like it." 

"What are you going to do about it?" she asked. 

"What can I do? Go back and try to knock him over the head again?" he asked. 

She rolled her eyes at him. "Then try something different this time. Something he won't expect." 

"How am I supposed to know what he..." Jack began, and stopped. 

"You're getting an idea?" Carly asked. 

"Maybe," said Jack. He glanced around the room. "But I'm going to need help." 

"Whatever it is, count me in," said Crow. 

Jack shook his head. "No. You and Kiryu stay behind and keep an eye on things here." 

Crow frowned. "You aren't going alone." 

"No," Jack replied calmly, "I'm taking Rua and Ruka." 

"What?" Rua yelped. 

"Why us?" Ruka asked. 

"Because," said Jack, "Goodwin knows less about you two and what you're capable of than he knows about most of us. Whatever he's expecting, it won't be you." 

"You can count on us!" said Rua, puffing out his chest. His sister looked less confident, but she nodded grimly, and Kuribon gave an encouraging little chirp. Jack gave them an approving nod in return before turning his attention to Bruno and Yusei. 

"Can either of you two tech wizards figure out where that transmission came from?" Jack asked. 

"No problem," Yusei assured him. His fingers tapped rapid patterns over the console. "Got it. Eighth floor, room D-12." 

"Fine," Jack said. He turned to the twins. "Now, when we get there, this is what I need you to do..." 

They went up stairs. The higher they went, the more nervous Jack became. The upstairs rooms weren't safe right now, with monsters trying to batter their way in. From time to time, Jack would pass a window and see a monster clambering down the side of the building. Any wise person would have been trying to get out of the building, not going upstairs where things were more unstable. If Goodwin was upstairs, he was there a specific reason. 

The hallway they finally reached was not one of the more impressive ones. It was a no-nonsense place of gray tile floors and plain white walls with no pictures or ornaments. The doors were simple rectangles with numbers painted on them - not even a nameplate to indicate that anyone worked there. The lights were dim, as though the management begrudged wasting illumination on the likes of those peons who worked here. If there hadn't been a state of emergency, the hall would have been full of the muted sounds of people typing and rustling papers. From time to time, one would emerge from a room and shuffle without enthusiasm into another one. The people who worked here would all wear the same sorts of clothes, even the women, and have their hair all cut in the same no-nonsense style. They all wore the same expression. They didn't even speak to each other; their jobs were so repetitive that they no longer needed to communicate what they needed anymore. Jack had seen it before when he'd been called upon to deliver messages to places like this, and it never failed to give him a chill. He would have preferred to die out in the desert than to exist in that sort of barely alive state. He supposed it was possible that these people had a vibrant home life, but it seemed more likely that they went home to a spouse who told their children that they had to play quietly because Mommy or Daddy was tired from a long day at work. Well, today they had something to shake them out of their routine. None of them were around. 

But someone must have been there, because Kuribon's eyes suddenly brightened, and she led them without hesitating towards one of the nondescript doors, one where the numbers had gotten smudged. Jack pressed his ear to the door, and heard someone inside typing rapidly. He nodded and stepped back again. 

He eyed the door. As camouflage, it was probably a very good door. No one who walked past it would give it a second look. They certainly wouldn't imagine that there was anything on the other side of it that wasn't in any of the other rooms. As far as security went, though, it wasn't much more than a flimsy bit of wood-substitute. As difficult as real wood was to come by, no one would spare it on a plain office door. These days, anything made of "wood" was probably made of various plant fibers held together with adhesive and stained to look like the real thing. It was good enough for a privacy screen, but that was about all. Jack moved back a bit to give himself some room, and then he gave the door a good solid kick. A large chunk of it simply shattered into dust; it was only a thin veneer of wood-like substance over a core of rags and husks. He kicked it again, and the whole thing snapped in half. 

Jack stepped casually over the pile of wood chips and dust. Goodwin was already on his feet, backing away though there was nowhere to escape to. The room was little more than a closet with a desk in it. A computer rested on the desk, with wires snaking off to disappear through gaps in the wall. Goodwin glared, looking more irritated than Jack had yet seen him. 

"You could have just knocked," he said. 

"I'm self-sufficient," said Jack. 

Goodwin gave him a look that was almost pitying. "You are a stubborn man. I could almost respect you for it. You should have stayed in the other place, Jack Atlas. You might have done some good there." 

"I won't stop fighting you," said Jack. "Not while I'm still alive." 

Goodwin shook his head. "Your courage is admirable but misplaced. By now, your friends will have realized that their machines have started running again. They will assume that you have somehow forced me to relent, and they will continue what they were planning on doing." 

"And why is this a bad thing?" asked Jack. 

"Because," said Goodwin, sounding tired, "I have activated a self-destruct protocol." 

Jack frowned. "When you say 'self-destruct', do you mean...?" 

"Whatever your friends are doing down there, they aren't going to be doing it for very long," said Goodwin. "And neither are we. I estimate we have less than ten minutes before the building collapses." 

He started for the remains of the door, but Jack braced his hands against the frame to block his path. 

"You aren't going anywhere until you stop that countdown," he said. 

"There isn't a shutoff function," said Goodwin. "Once it's started, it won't stop. Keeping me here will only guarantee that we all die." 

"Maybe I want you to die and don't care what it takes." 

Goodwin glared at him. "Don't be a fool. You'll never reach your friends in time to save them now, but you can still save yourselves and these children if you get out now. Do you intend to let them die to salve your pride?" 

Jack winced. That was a low blow, and probably also true. Any sane man would take the opportunity to get out as fast as possible. 

_If they can get the door open before the explosion goes off, they'll be safe,_ he told himself. Even if they were separated, he would be able to find his way back to the other world somehow. He'd find them again. He had to hold on to that. 

What if they hadn't had enough time to start over? 

"Jack, maybe we should go," said Ruka, tugging at his coat. 

He shook his head slightly. "We do what we came here to do first. Then we go." 

She looked nervous, but nodded, and Rua repeated the gesture with more vigor. Goodwin shook his head sadly. 

"You'd really do it," he said. "You'd doom yourself and your companions just to get revenge on me." 

"No," said Jack. "But I will do a lot to stop you from doing any more damage." 

There was a rumbling noise under the floor. Emotions flashed across Goodwin's face - disappointment, resignation. 

"That's it, then," he said. "I hope you're proud of yourself." 

"I am," said Jack. "But right now, I'm more proud of these two." 

"Why would you be..." 

That was as far as Goodwin got. In the next moment, the Power Tool Dragon burst up from the floor beneath him. Fragments of the floor sprayed in all directions, ricocheting off the walls. Jack pulled the twins aside so that they wouldn't be hurt by the flying debris. As he turned away, he had the impression of Goodwin's screams getting fainter as he dropped down several floors. Jack hoped whatever he landed on, it was sharp. 

"Now, let's get out of here," he said. 

Ruka looked up at him with wide eyes. "Shouldn't we go find the others?" 

Jack reluctantly shook his head. "Goodwin's right. They're trying to get out as fast as they can. Either they'll make it out on their own, or they're already beyond help." 

"But..." Rua began. Jack glared at him, and he stopped, visibly swallowing down whatever he was going to say, or perhaps just a lump in his throat. 

"Come on," said Jack, gripping their arms and forcing them to follow. "We need to get out of here before that thing goes off." 

He dragged them back down the hall as fast as he could go, wishing he wasn't constrained by their lack of speed. Even so, the building remained quiet. No alarms blared, no sirens went off as they hurried down the stairs. Jack felt himself relax a tiny bit. Goodwin might have been bluffing. Maybe his computer hadn't worked. For all anyone knew, Bruno might have known about the self-destruct feature and disengaged it right off the bat. After all, he'd practically designed some of this machinery, hadn't he? 

They were on the stairs when he felt it happen. A tremor ran through the building, sending vibrations through his shoes. The walls creaked. Hairline cracks shivered their way through the plaster and released tiny spurts of dust. A distant groan of tortured metal and stone filled the air. 

"All right, now we run," said Jack. 

He scooped Rua up into his arms, and crouched a bit so that Ruka, a few steps above him, could scramble onto his back. Kuribon scuttled up and perched on his shoulder like some sort of flightless furry parrot, wrapping her tail around his arm for balance. It was a lot to carry at once, but he ran anyway, letting gravity work in his favor to carry him down the stairs. More blasts shook the building as he ran. Behind him, a piece of the ceiling fell in, throwing bits of debris into his path. He stumbled, and Rua gave a squeak and clung tighter to him as he threw out one arm for balance. He regained his footing, shifted his grip on the boy and kept running. 

More explosions crashed above them. 

_He has the whole building rigged,_ Jack thought. _This whole place is a death trap._ Then he thought, _Of course he did. He wanted to be able to make sure there were no survivors if he had to._

As soon as he came to a landing, he knelt so that the children could climb down. 

"Everyone off," he ordered. "I need my hands free." 

As soon as they were down, he stood and tried the door. It was locked, of course - why should anything be easy? He prepared to give it the same treatment he had given the other door, but just then, there was another blast, and then the whole building tipped a few degrees to one side with an enormous creaking groan. Rua and Ruka shrieked and clung to him until the movement stopped. 

"This isn't fun anymore," he muttered. 

"I'm scared," said Ruka quietly. 

"Don't worry, we're getting out of here," he said. 

He backed up and got a running start, and threw his shoulder against the door. It was a little more solid than the one upstairs, but the shifting of the building was already putting a strain on it, and it cracked under his blow. He backed up again and kicked it a few times, and it collapsed into fragments. A small distracted part of his mind wondered, if breaking a mirror brought seven years bad luck, what breaking down all these doors would get him. 

_A way out, I hope._

There was a hallway beyond the door. This one was better than the one upstairs; it had a thin green carpet on the floor, and a spindly little table. There had been a glass coffee percolator on the spindly table, but it had fallen when the building shifted, and the percolator had shattered, leaving a brown stain on the rug. He looked quickly away from it before it could remind him of anything. 

At the far end of the room was a window, and that was something he _did_ want to see. A window meant a way out. Never mind that they were still several floors up. The building was still shifting, a bit at a time. If it tipped over just a little more, they would have enough of an angle that they ought to be able to scramble down the outside without too much difficulty. It wouldn't be perfectly safe, but it was better than using the stairs and risking the whole thing collapsing on their heads. He dashed over to the window and looked outside. They were five stories up - not so high that a fall would be certain death, but certainly high enough that they'd be risking broken bones. 

_No time to be picky,_ he decided. There were plenty of windows on the way down, and ornamental ledges that would provide footholds. They could make it if they were careful. 

He prepared to smash the glass out, but before he could do so, the whole building made a grinding noise. It began tipping, slowly at first, but then picking up momentum. Jack realized there had been an error in his calculations. 

"Hold on to me!" he shouted. 

The twins latched onto his waist. He seized on the spindly table and threw it as hard as he could at the window. It struck perfectly, sailing through the air in a spray of shattering glass. Jack half-ran, half scrambled up the suddenly steep slope of the hall, using the rug for purchase. 

"When I said, hold on, I _really meant it_ ," he said, and grabbed both children, tucking one under each arm. Kuribon flung itself into Ruka's grasp. As soon as they were all collected, Jack forced himself to pick up what speed he could, straining every muscle, and then threw himself out the window. 

As he went down, he wondered if he should have thought this through a little more. 

The twins screamed. He didn't scream only because he was using all the energy he could spare on concentrating, because if concentrating didn't work, then none of them were going to like what happened when they hit the ground. 

Then something large and dark came barreling towards him. With the noise from the collapsing building and the terror of falling, he thought for an instant that it was a chunk of the wall, about to fall on him and turn him into the filling in a pavement sandwich. Reality caught up to him at the same time the dark shape did, and he landed heavily on the dragon's shoulders. It roared, though in pain or relief, he couldn't tell, and flapped its wings in a powerful rush. The Red Daemon's Dragon carried them swiftly away to safety, and Jack couldn't help but sigh with relief. He hadn't been sure it would hear him calling it. He held tightly to the twins, letting the dragon worry about keeping them balanced. 

At last, the dragon found a clear patch of ground and landed with a great fanning of wings. Jack slid to the ground and helped the other passengers down after him, trying to hide his shaky knees. Now that they were safe, the narrowness of his escape was catching up to him. If no one had been around, he would have been tempted to throw up, but he had an image to maintain. 

Rua was looking around at the empty streets. 

"Where are all the others?" he asked. "Aren't they here?" 

"I don't know," said Jack. He was tired. He didn't want to think anymore. He wished the others were around, so that he could get one of them to make decisions for a while. His adrenaline rush was fading, and he felt cold and dull-witted. It would have been nice to turn his mind off and sleep for a while. 

Ruka grabbed his hand and began tugging him towards the central building. 

"Come on!" she said. "We've got to look for the others! They might still be in there!" 

Jack stood his ground. "We can't. That building is going to fall in at any second. We'd be crushed." 

"But..." she began. 

Even as she spoke, the building lurched to the side again, passed its center of balance, and began its final fall. For an instant, it seemed organic, curving through the air like a wave or a leaping fish. Then it dropped messily all over the street and the surrounding structures. Smoke and dust billowed. There was a low rumble as the pieces settled. For a moment, all anyone could do was stand and stare at the destruction. Even buildings several blocks away had been crushed. 

Finally, Jack forced himself to take a step forwards, and then another, lurching shakily towards the heap of rubble. He didn't really want to go in there and see if there was anyone in there, or what was left of them, but he didn't see any other options. He had to know for sure. 

He had only gone a few paces before there was a tremor, and his first thought was, _Not again! How many explosives did they plant?_ But the tremor wasn't coming from the remains of the building. It seemed to be everywhere, under the earth and in the air, making his ears ring and his skin prickle as it did when a storm was on its way. The dragon roared and fanned its wings in agitation, and the twins and Kuribon shrieked and pressed themselves to him. He knelt and put his arms around them as the world around them shook. 

Then a burst of light, nearly as wide across as the original building had been, shot up from the rubble, glowing a dazzling yellow-green and throwing shadows as crisp as knives. It stretched up to the ceiling of the dome and beyond, and Jack tipped his head back to stare as it rose up beyond his line of sight. He had never imagined how high something could go, or that the sky extended so far. For a moment, his mind reeled with incomprehensible distances. 

Then the light collapsed in on itself and became a sphere of light, hovering gently just above the heap of rubble that had once been a building. It sat there, an inch or so shy of touching anything, glowing with a shimmering light. While Jack was still staring at it, his dragon sniffed the air a few times, made a low purring sound, and began lumbering towards it. Kuribon gave a happy little squeak and scampered after the dragon. 

"Is that it?" asked Rua. "The door?" His face lit up. "That means they're okay! They finished it! It wouldn't be here if they weren't okay, right?" 

Jack didn't answer. He looked at the crumpled building, with its shards of masonry and twisted girders, and its electrical wires still wanly shooting sparks. There was the occasional grinding rumble as another piece of the mess settled into place. The door was on _top_ of all that. It hadn't appeared until after everything had collapsed. No one had gone through it yet. 

Suddenly his energy was depleted. Weariness fell over him as though the building had dropped onto his shoulders, and he leaned against a nearby wall and put his hand to his face. 

So this was it. They had done what they'd set out to do - they had _won_. The villains were dead, balance was restored, the world would begin a glorious new era. At least a few of the heroes had come out alive. That was the best you could hope for, in a case like this. 

It didn't make sense. He was the one who had put himself in danger so the others could escape. That was how it was supposed to _work_. How had it all gone wrong? 

He wished futilely for his cycle. But where was there to go, when what he wanted to find wouldn't be there? 

There was another rumble, and he turned to glare at the building, wishing there was some rational way to tell it to shut up. Hadn't it already made its point? But the rumbling continued, and pieces began to fall off the heap - not _into_ it, as they would have if they were settling into the remains of the basement, but upward and outward, as if something very large was pushing them. Jack stared, trying to work out what he was seeing. Unless gravity had reversed itself, something very strange was going on. 

The rumbling got louder, as more and more pieces of the debris were pushed aside. At last, something clear and shiny, like a glass dome, began to emerge from the earth, with brick and metal sliding off its smooth surface. Even the dust didn't seem to want to stick to it. Once it broke through the rubble, it picked up its pace. Soon Jack could see that the shining thing was a globe-shaped bubble, and there were people inside of it. He recognized Merina, along with several other entities, most of them more or less humanoid, most of them wearing long robes. They stood in a circle, facing away from each other, arms extended. Light glittered from their fingertips. Huddled in the center of the bubble, apparently supported by nothing at all, were Yusei, Bruno, Aki, Crow, Kiryu, and Carly. They looked dusty and singed, but very much alive. 

"See, see!" said Rua, jumping up and down in his excitement. "I knew they were okay!" 

The bubble floated free of the building's remains with a final clatter of shifting rubble, and landed a few yards away. The bottom bent and flattened as it touched down on the pavement, so that the occupants could find their footing. Once they were all situated, the bubble gently burst. 

Carly rushed over to Jack and hugged him. 

"You're okay!" she exclaimed. "I thought you got blown up!" 

"You thought _I_ got blown up? You were the one down in the basement with no way out!" 

"We were okay," said Carly. "Merina got some spellcasters together and made us that bubble thing to hide in. Everyone is fine." 

Jack wasn't sure whether to laugh with relief or shout at her for being perfectly all right when he'd been worrying. He settled for, "Don't ever let me talk you into doing anything this stupid again." 

She laughed and rested her head against his shoulder. "I don't think I need to worry about it." 

"So what happened up there?" asked Bruno. "Is it over? Did we win?" 

"It's over," said Jack. "The Goodwin brothers are dead. Unless they survived being buried in all of that, which I doubt," he added, gesturing towards the demolished building. 

"Jack threw us out a window!" said Rua, as though this were the best news he'd ever heard, and couldn't wait to share it. 

Yusei shook his head. "I don't think I want to know." 

"So, what happens now?" asked Kiryu. 

"Well, it looks like our gates worked," said Yusei. He gazed up at the glowing portal with an expression of pride. "It will be a while before people figure out what to do with them, though. I'll probably hang around a bit to see if I can help get things organized. I want to track down Professor LeBlanc again, and let him know how things turned out. He'll probably be a big help with getting all this organized." 

Bruno nodded. "I'll help. Those two might have been in charge, but there are still some agents of the Yliasters out there who might try something." 

"I'm going back to work," said Kiryu. "They're still going to need Death's Angels for a while, gates or no gates. As a matter of fact, I'll probably have twice as much work now - _two_ worlds for people to get themselves killed in." 

"I'm going back to my kids," said Crow. "But then I'm taking them back to the other world. I've had enough of living under a rock." 

"We're coming too," said Ruka, and Rua nodded. "Mama and Papa are waiting for us." 

"And I still have a lot to learn at the temple," said Aki softly. 

"It sounds like we're all going to be doing a lot of coming and going between worlds, then," said Yusei. 

Carly looked at Jack. "What about you? What are you going to do?" 

He looked thoughtfully at the portal a moment. Seeing it was a tangible sign that everything had changed. Even with his enemies destroyed, he still couldn't go back to the way things used to be, and that was all right, because he didn't really want to. He wasn't sure what this new life was going to be, but he had a feeling it was going to be better than it had been before. If nothing else, he knew no matter what he did, he wasn't going to be doing it alone. 

"What do you think?" he said. "I'm going to do my job." 

* * *

It was a misty morning outside the teyva village. The sky was just turning pink, and the mountains were soft purple shapes like clouds against the horizon. It was the time of day when there were no shadows, only paler or darker shapes, blurred by a light fog that glided lazily over the world. The breeze smelled of moisture and wet earth and green growing things. Jack stepped out of his house, taking deep breaths of the cool morning air. He shifted the strap on his pack and smiled. 

"Ready to go?" he called towards the inside of the house. 

"Just a minute!" Carly called back. There was a sound of rustling paper; Jack could just imagine her shoving things frantically into her bag. Later she would complain, wondering how on earth her notes had gotten so crumpled. At last, she emerged with a pouch slung over her shoulder. 

"You're sure you've got everything?" he asked her. 

"Of course!" she said. "All the important stuff is packed already, and everything else I need is up here." She tapped her temple with one finger. 

"Are you saying there's nothing important in your head?" he asked slyly. 

She slapped his arm. "Hush, you." 

He laughed and began walking across the soft grass, feeling his shoes growing wet with dew, enjoying the reassuring thump of his messenger bag against his side. It was crammed with paper, messages for people in far off cities, places he had never been. Carly scampered after him. 

A short walk outside the village, they came to a clearing. The Red Daemon's Dragon was curled up there, its wings tucked over its head as it dozed. Jack patted it on the neck, and it awoke with a snort. 

"Time to get up," he told it. "We have work to do." 

The dragon snorted a little puff of smoke, indistinguishable from the fog except by the smell of sulfur. It stood up, slowly stretching its legs and wings. Carly watched the performance impatiently, shifting from foot to foot. 

"Nervous?" Jack asked her. 

"A little," she admitted. "I mean, this is the big test, isn't it? To see if I can really make it as a bard." 

"You'll do fine," Jack assured her, "as long as I don't get us both lost." 

She smiled. "You won't get us lost. The dragon is driving." 

"See? There you go," said Jack, raising his chin. "Nothing to worry about." 

The dragon finished its stretches and settled down again, waiting for its passengers to climb aboard. Jack scrambled up on its shoulders and leaned down to give Carly a hand up. Once they were situated, the dragon ran a few paces, flaring its wings, and launched itself into the sky. Jack gave a whoop as they left the earth behind. Together, they rose up into the gradually lightening sky. For this moment, at least, everything was as it should be. He was with the people who mattered most to him. 

And there were letters that needed delivering. 

****

The End


End file.
